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[ _SCRIBNE R , ARMSTRONG, & CO. NEW YORK 



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DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 



5$/5,C-<* ?(>/ccL 



ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY OF TRAVEL, 
EXPLORATION, AND ADVENTURE. 



TRAVELS IN 



SOUTH AFRICA. 



COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY 



BAYARD TAYLOR 






Ok 



NEW YORK: 
SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG, AND CO., 

SUCCESSORS TO 

CHARLES SCRIBNER AND CO. 
1872. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by 

SCR1BNER, ARMSTRONG & CO., 
In the Office of the*Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: 
PRINTED BY H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

South Africa. — Its Discovery and Settlement . . 1 

CHAPTER II. 
The Native Tribes of South Africa .... 13 

CHAPTER III. 
Moffat's Missionary Journeys . . * . . • .25 

CHAPTER IV. 
Livingstone's Discovery of Lake Ngami . . .41 

CHAPTER V. 
Livingstone's First Journey to the Zambesi . . 54 

CHAPTER VI. 

Anderson's Journey to the Ovampo Land and 

Lake Ngami 68 

CHAPTER VII. 
Anderson's Journey to the Okavango River . . 82 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Livingstone's Journey Across the Continent. — 

i.-to the makololo country 99 



CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER IX. 

PAGE 

Livingstone's Journey Across the Continent. — 

ii.-voyage up the zambesi rlver . . . 122 

CHAPTER X. 
Livingstone's Journey Across the Continent. — 

III.-Up the Leeja River 143 

CHAPTER XI. 
Livingstone's Journey Across the Continent.— 

IV.-From Shinte to Loanda 177 

CHAPTER XII. 
Livingstone's Journey Across the Continent. — 

V. -Return to the Makololo Country . . 204 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Livingstone's Journey Across the Continent. — 

VI.-Down the Zambesi to the Eastern Coast . 234 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Magyar's Journey to Bihe ...... 253 

CHAPTER XV. 
Magyar's Journeys in the Interior .... 269 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Livingstone's Expedition to Lake Nyassa . . . 284 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Livingstone's Last Journey .301 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

David Livingstone ... . ^y. . Frontispiece. 

Cape Town 6 

Namaqua Musician 16 

Moshech, Chief of Bassutos 20 

Thaba Bossin 24 

Hippopotamus Trap 40 

Livingstone attacked by a Lion 44 

Anderson starting out 68 

South African Watering-place 77 

Anderson's Journey across the Burning Prairie . 88 

u Behold ! a White Man " . . . ... 95 

A Hippopotamus Family ... ... 120 

Moonlight Dance of the Natives . . . . 140 

Halt under the Baobab ... ... 176 

Pass of Pungo Adongo 200 

Head-dresses of Londa 215 

Hippopotamus Upsetting a Boat 228 

Village of Skulls 231 

Falls of the Zambese 239 

St. Paul de Loanda ........ 254 

Magyar's Ascent of the Coast Range .... 261 

An Expedition from Bihe ...... 281 

Zanzibar 302 



CiSmhuTL i^- 



~. MoffaMs route 
,, Andersons » 
•» LivtiKjs/ones » 
~ Magyars 
•~ Stanley's « 




TRAVELS m SOUTH AFRICA. 



CHAPTER U 

SOUTH AFRICA.— ITS DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

THE fact that the northern part of Africa was well 
known to the civilized nations of antiquity gave 
rise to very early attempts to explore the dimensions 
of that continent. The first authentic record of such 
an attempt is given by Herodotus, who relates that 
Pharaoh Necho (about 600 years before the Christian 
era) sent an expedition down the Red Sea, with orders 
to sail around what was then considered to be an island, 
reaching to the latitude of the Equator. The vessels 
sailed until the autumn, landed, sowed grain, waited 
until they had reaped the harvest, and then sailed 
further. In the third year of their voyage they reached 
the Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar), and returned to 
Egypt w^ith the intelligence, which Herodotus utterly 
discredits, that they had seen the sun in the north. 
This circumstance, alone, seems to be sufficient proof 
that the Egyptians really circumnavigated Africa. 

The second attempt, of which we have a more par- 
ticular description, was made' by the Carthaginians, 
about the year 500 B. C, when the famous Admiral 
Ilaimo set out on his voyage of colonization, some 
1 



2 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

account of which is preserved to us in the fragments 
of hh jPeriplus. He sailed with sixty vessels, carrying 
three thousand colonists of both sexes, with a rich store 
of provisions and implements of labor. Coasting for 
two days southward from the Straits of Gibraltar, he 
founded the first colony, and built, upon a wooded 
headland near it, a stately temple to Neptune. Still 
further to the south, — but at what point we cannot 
now ascertain, — he found a large lake, frequented by 
elephants and other wild beasts, and, beyond this, 
founded four other colonies. Near this place the great 
river " Lixus," coming down from the Atlas moun- 
tains, emptied into the ocean. 

After a further voyage of three days along a des- 
ert coast, he reached a bay with an island, and there 
established the last colony, which was named Cerne. 
He reckoned that its distance from the Pillars of 
Hercules was about the same as from that point to 
Carthage. From Cerne, as a starting-point, voyages 
of exploration were made still further to the south. 
They found great rivers, tenanted by the crocodile 
and the hippopotamus; savage negro tribes, partly 
clothed with the skins of beasts; great forests, from 
which flame arose at night, and where they heard the 
sound of cymbals and drums ; and finally, on an island 
near the shore, strange, hairy creatures, resembling 
men, to which they gave the name of gorillas. These 
monsters fled as they approached, clambered upon the 
rocks and hurled stones upon the explorers. The 
latter captured three females, which were so ferocious 
that they were obliged to kill them ; but their skins 
were sent to Carthage. 



ITS DISCO VER Y AND SE TTLEMENT. 3 

Modem geographers are divided in opinion as to 
the furthest point reached by Hanno, some bunting 
his explorations to the southern boundary of Morocco, 
while others extend them to the Bight of Benin. The 
evidence is tolerably conclusive that he must have 
penetrated as far, at least, as the Gambia River. 

The next attempt was made about the year 130 
B C by a Greek navigator, named Eudoxus. On his 
trading voyages to India he had^een the eastern coast 
of Africa, where it trends to the south-west beyond 
Cape Gardafui; and he naturally imagined (being 
also familiar, probably, with the account of the Egyp- 
tian expedition given by Herodotus) that it might be 
but a short journey around the continent to Gibraltar 
His plan was heartily encouraged by the merchants of 
Marseilles and Cadiz, then important trading-ports; 
two large vessels were furnished, and a crowd of vol- 
unteers offered themselves for the expedition But 
the latter resisted the efforts of Eudoxus to sail at a 
safe distance from the land; they compelled him to 
keep near the coast, and the larger of the two vessels 
was'soon stranded, as he had predicted. The ciw 
and cargo were rescued, and from the fragments of t he 
vessel he constructed a smaller one with which he 
continued the voyage until he reached a tribe of peop e 
who apparently spoke the same language as those he 
had seen on the eastern coast. Here, however, he 
was obliged to return. He succeeded m httmg out a 
second expedition, but there is no record whatever of 
its results, and Eudoxus is only mentioned by Stiabo 
as a fantastic adventurer-* Munchausen of the ancient 



times. 



4; TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

The knowledge of the eastern coast of Africa ex- 
tended, as the commerce with India increased. The 
trade in ivory led the vessels which navigated the Red 
Sea ever further to the south, until, from the rela- 
tions of Ptolemy, it seems probable that they reached 
the mouth of the Zambesi River, and may possibly 
have attained the southern extremity of the continent, 
without being aware of the discovery. 

The trade in ivory, gold, and slaves, along the east- 
ern coast, was kept up by the Arabs during the Mid- 
dle Ages. There is a great deal of evidence to show 
that they had a regular intercourse with the regions 
of Zanzibar and Mozambique, which was afterward 
extended to Caffraria. Indeed, the intellectual supe- 
riority of the Kaffers over the other native tribes of 
South Africa, is attributed by some ethnologists to a 
mixture of Arabic blood. Their language still con- 
tains words of Arabic origin. 

But the complete exploration of the African coast 
was reserved for Portugal. The rapid growth of Por- 
tuguese commerce, about the beginning of the fifteenth 
century, together with the wars with Morocco, which 
occasioned the sending out of naval expeditions, led to 
the rediscovery of the Canary Islands in 1420, and 
made the navigators familiar with the mainland, as 
far as Cape Bojador. This point was looked upon as 
one of the ends of the world; and when, in 1433, 
the intrepid Gilianez, sailed beyond it, his achieve- 
ment excited almost as much w r onder and enthusiasm 
as the great discovery of Columbus, sixty years after- 
wards. 

In ten years more the Portuguese had reached 



ITS DISCO VER Y AND SE TTLEMENT. 5 

Cape Blanco, and made a settlement on an island near 
it. Furnished by the Pope with authority to possess 
themselves of all the lands beyond Cape Bojador, they 
very soon found the fertile regions of Senegal, and 
were stimulated by the double prospect of enriching 
themselves with gold-dust and ivory, and of extending 
their rule over new tribes, who must first, of course, 
be forcibly converted to Christianity. The death of 
Prince Henry the Navigator, whose interest in these 
undertakings had contributed so greatly to their suc- 
cess, checked the advance of exploration, — but only for 
a short time. Fernando Gomez was commissioned by 
the king to extend the line of explored coast one hun- 
dred miles a year, for five years, and thereby reached 
the Gold Coast in 1471. The island of Fernando Po 
was reached soon afterwards, and in 1484 Diego Cam 
sailed into the mouth of the great Congo River, estab- 
lished friendly relations with the kingdom of that 
name, and introduced Christianity. During nearly 
two centuries, Congo and Angola appeared to be thor- 
oughly Christianized, but they have since relapsed into 
their former condition of pagan barbarism. 

The line of Portuguese exploration was very grad- 
ually pushed southward, until Bartholomew Diaz first 
saw the great mountain-cape with which Africa fronts 
the Southern Ocean. Terrified by the stormy sky, 
the furious winds, and the great waves formed by 
the meeting of two strong ocean-currents, he turned 
back, naming the headland the Cape of Storms, and 
hastened with his shattered vessels to Portugal. The 
king, however, changed the name to the Cape of Good 
Hope, rightly believing that the ocean-road to India 



6 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

was at last found. In 1498 his belief was justified by 
Vasco de Gama, who doubled the dreaded Cape, fol- 
lowed the eastern coast to Mozambique and Melinda, 
and reached India. 

The commercial spirit of the Portuguese, however, 
was only attracted by the regions on the eastern and 
western coasts of Africa, which supplied their trade in 
gold, ivory, and slaves. The extreme southern part of 
the continent, with its wild shores, bare plains, and 
savage Hottentot inhabitants, did not tempt them to 
colonize it. Their vessels on the voyage to and from 
India, occasionally touched at the Cape for fresh water 
and cattle, but, they had little intercourse with the na- 
tives, except of a hostile character. 

The Dutch, who had become, in the course of an- 
other century, the commercial rivals of the Portuguese 
in the Indies, were the first to perceive the importance 
of establishing a permanent station at the southern ex- 
tremity of Africa, where their ships could find supplies 
on the long voyage to the East. In 1630, Van Rie- 
beck built a fort on Table Bay, which was the first 
germ of the present Capetown. His only object was 
to establish a stopping-place for Dutch vessels, and the 
garrison took pains to conciliate the native tribes, since 
they found the intercourse exceedingly profitable. 
Little by little, however, the Dutch embraced in their 
claim the land surrounding the fort, began raising their 
own herds of cattle, cultivating the soil, and even for- 
cibly making slaves of the natives. By the beginning 
of the last century they had obtained possession of sev- 
eral thousand miles of territory. The boundaries of 
this colony were subjected to constant attacks, but 






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ITS DISCO VER Y AND SE TTLEMENT. 7 

the weaker races were wasted in the warfare, and 
slowly receded, as on our own western frontier. 

After a time, farmers and mechanics began to emi- 
grate from Holland to the settlement, and in 1685, 
many of the Huguenots who were driven from France, 
found their way thither. The discovery was made that 
a district near Capetown was remarkably favorable to 
the growth of the vine, and those vineyards were 
planted which have since then produced the famous 
Constantia wine. The growth of the colony, neverthe- 
less, was restricted to the narrow belt of fertile country 
south of the mountain ranges, which cross South Af- 
rica in a line nearly parallel to its southern coast. The 
broad, barren table-land of the Karroo seemed to be a 
bar to settlement in that direction, and the great val- 
ley of the Orange River, beyond, had not then been 
discovered. 

The Orange River was first discovered by Capt. 
Gordon, in 1777. The English, who had long cast 
covetous eyes upon the Cape-land, captured Capetowm 
and the adjacent territory in 1795. Although they 
relinquished this acquisition in the Treaty of Amiens, 
they retook it in 1806, and held possession, until by 
the peace of 1815, they secured it permanently. Un- 
der their rule, the work of exploration went forward 
more rapidly, partly by means of adventurers who 
sought fields of future gain, and partly by the mission- 
aries sent from Scotland. The course and extent of 
the Orange River was soon ascertained, and the land 
of the Bechuanas beyond, with its capital of Lattakoo, 
was reached in 1813 by the missionary John Campbell. 
The area of colonized territory was also slowly ex- 



8 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

tended to the eastward and northward, and other towns 
were founded along or near the coast. 

The Dutch population, who, after a century of 
settlement, had fallen into their own traditional habits 
of life, were greatly dissatisfied with the new rule. 
After the possession of the territory had been assured 
to England, officials were sent out who were ignorant 
of the condition and needs of the country, and whuse 
chief aim was to enrich themselves as speedily as possi- 
ble. The old order of things was roughly overturned : 
the natives were treated according to a different sys- 
tem, and finally, the abolition of Hottentot slavery, in 
in 1829, seemed to the Boers (farmers) a fatal blow to 
their prosperity. Moreover, those living on the fron- 
tier were forbidden to carry on their old warfare 
against the assaults of the savage tribes, yet no equiva- 
lent military protection was furnished to them. 

All these causes of dissatisfaction led to a move- 
ment which, in the end, greatly hastened the explora- 
tion of Southern Africa. The Dutch farmers deter- 
mined to withdraw themselves from English rule. 
They sold their cultivated farms to English settlers 
and speculators, often at a small fraction of their real 
value, equipped themselves for emigration, and in 1836 
set out, several thousand in number, to seek a new 
home beyond the Orange River. They knew of the 
fertile regions stretching from the upper valley of 
that river towards Delagoa Bay on the eastern coast, — 
regions which had been almost entirely depopulated in 
the wars of the native tribes, — and also of nearer dis- 
tricts, on the eastern slopes of the Winterberg. As 
this great body of emigrants penetrated towards the 



ITS DISCO VER Y AND SE TTLEMENT. 9 

north, they found few difficulties in their way ; but 
those who turned eastward came into conflict with the 
fierce Kaffer tribes. In the following year, however, 
Prgetorius, one of the Dutch leaders, defeated the 
Kaffer chief Dingaan, took possession of his land and 
organized the Free State of Natal. The Boers who 
had settled on the western slopes of the mountain 
chain formed a separate government, which they 
called the Republic of the Orange ^iver. 

The success of the Boers in establishing two inde- 
pendent States attracted the attention of the Eng- 
lish Government, which determined to bring them again 
under its rule. From the circumstance that an English 
settlement had been made in Natal (although it was 
afterwards given up), the Government laid claim to 
the possession of that territory, appointed officials of 
all kinds, and sent them with ships of war to enforce 
their authority. The Dutch both protested and actively 
resisted, but they were finally overcome, some accept- 
ing the English rule, while others left their homes a sec- 
ond time and withdrew into the wilderness. In Novem- 
ber, 1843, Natal was declared to be a British colony. 

Soon afterwards, the English applied the same plan 
of annexation to the Orange River Republic, but the 
civil officers they sent to replace the republican gov- 
ernment which the Dutch had established were im- 
mediately driven away. Then an armed force fol- 
lowed : the Dutch, under Prsetorius, resisted, until, in 
August, 1848, at the battle of Boom-Plats, the latter 
were defeated with much slaughter. The same results 
followed, as in the case of Natal ; some submitted to 
the conquering power, while others, with Pnetorius at 



10 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

their head, wandered away to the north, crossed the 
Vaal River, the main branch of the Orange, took pos 
session of the mountainous region, dividing its waters 
from those of the Limpopo, and founded that indepen- 
dent State which is now known as the Transvaal 
Republic. 

In 1854 the English Government wisely decided 
to give up the Orange River sovereignty, as it was 
termed, and restore its independence to the little re- 
public. Thus the heroic Boers, after their long wan- 
derings and their desperate struggle for liberty to regu- 
late their own affairs, were at last successful ; but their 
subsequent history has been less favorable to their char- 
acter. After the death of President Prsetorius, the 
Transvaal Republic, in 1858, broke out into open hos- 
tility against that of Orange River ; party hatred and jeal- 
ousy seem to be as great in these little communities 
as in large nations, and at this day, although both have 
increased in population and prosperity, there has been 
little improvement in the character of their inhabi- 
tants, who are charged by the English with continual 
violence and cruelty towards the native tribes. It 
should be remembered, however, that the Dutch in 
South Africa, after an intercourse of a hundred and 
fifty years with the latter, cannot avoid retaining some 
of their characteristics. Their own development has 
been retarded, and thev have been rendered less acces- 
sible to the influences of modern civilization. The 
recent discovery of the diamond fields, which lie 
chiefly within the territories of the two republics, and 
of the rich gold region beyond the Limpopo, will no 
doubt greatly hasten their growth, and gradually wear 



ITS DISCO VER Y AND SE TTLEMENT. \\ 

away the bitter mutual prejudice between them and 
their English neighbors. 

The last fifty years, it will be seen, have contributed 
more to the opening of South Africa, as a home for civ- 
ilized man, than the three centuries of Portuguese and 
Dutch rule, after the voyage of Yasco de Gama. The 
English colony of the Cape increases much more 
slowly than those in Australia, I^ew Zealand, and 
other parts of the world, especially ^ince communication 
with the latter colonies has been more speedily made by 
way of Suez and Panama ; but its growth appears to 
be steady and healthy. It claims possession of the coast 
from Whale Bay around to Delagoa Bay on the east, 
and of the interior territory, with the exception of a 
few small KaiFer or Bushmen sovereignties. Capetown 
has become a stately, well-built place of 30,000 inhab- 
itants, while Georgetown, Grahamstown, and Port 
Natal are all flourishing towns. The entire popula- 
tion of the colony is about 225,000. 

The two Dutch republics open a communication 
far into the interior, and greatly facilitate its explora- 
tion. That of Orange River embraces the broad region 
between the upper valley of that river and its main 
tributary, the Yaal, — great plains of grass, broken with 
ridges of naked rock. It is a lofty, irregular table-land, 
with a healthy and equable climate. The Boers de- 
vote themselves principally to the raising of sheep and 
cattle on the plains ; in the valleys nearer the moun- 
tains there are large plantations of grain and orchards 
of fruit. The capital of the republic, Bloemfontain, is 
a well-built town of about 200 houses, and 2,500 in- 
habitants; but the whole population of the republic 



12 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

is not much more than 20,000 at present, including 
5,000 natives. 

The territory of the Transvaal Republic is much 
more extensive. Towards the north it reaches the 
Limpopo River, but there is no fixed frontier, and it 
will probably be pushed onward towards the Zambesi, 
with the growth of the country. Commencing near 
the Yaal, with the same grassy plains as in the south- 
ern republic, the land rises into ranges of hills, between 
which lie broad valleys, with thickets, woods, and 
abundant streams. The soil is equally adapted for pas- 
turage and tillage. On account of the greater mild- 
ness of the climate, all kinds of fruit, especially grapes 
and oranges, attain an unusual perfection. Beyond the 
mountains to the northward the climate becomes trop- 
ical and unhealthy, and the tsetse — that fly whose bite 
is fatal to cattle — is found. Of late years the cultiva- 
tion of sugar and coffee has been successfully introduced, 
and the population somewhat increased by an immigra- 
tion of farmers and herdsmen from Scotland ; but it is 
still scanty, Potschefstrom, the capital, containing only 
about a thousand souls. Trade is carried on chiefly 
with the settlement on Delagoa Bay, which is a little 
nearer than Port Natal. 

The discovery of diamond-fields and coal-mines in 
the Transvaal Republic, and of a gold region to the 
north of the Limpopo, promises to change the charac- 
ter of the country in a very short time. Indeed, these 
new sources of wealth have already given a fresh im- 
portance to South Africa, and will hasten the complete 
exploration of the regions first penetrated by Moffat, 
Anderson, and Livingstone.. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE NATIVE TRIBES OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

ALTHOUGH the various native tribes of Africa, 
from the Atlas to the Cape of Good Hope, pos- 
sess so many common peculiarities of language and of 
physical structure, that they may be all classed as be- 
longing to the same original stock, yet those which in- 
habit the southern end of the Continent exhibit many 
curious and interesting features. The influences of cli- 
mate and habits of life have greatly modified their 
character and appearance, while they have remained in 
the same state of barbarism as the tropical tribes. 

The primitive inhabitants of the Cape country 
were the Hottentots, who are still scattered over the 
whole colony, gradually diminishing like the Indians 
and Polynesians, through their intercourse with civil- 
ized races. The name " Hottentot," which was given 
to them by the early settlers, does not seem to belong 
to any particular tribe ; the general designation which 
they use among themselves, is " Anaqua." They have 
long been held by the civilized world, and hardly with 
injustice, to be the very ideals of human ugliness, and 
some ethnologists place them lowest in the scale of 
races. 

The pure-blooded Hottentot is a weak, dwarfish 
creature, rarely five feet high, with a spine so curved 



14 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

towards the base that it gives him a half-stooping atti- 
tude. His skull is flattened and retreating, and the 
head is sprinkled with little twists of short, thin wool, 
— a feature so comical, that it suggested to the Dutch 
settlers the nickname of " pepper-heads." The nose 
is so short and flat that it hardly can be called one, 
although the nostrils are very large, and the thick, 
projecting lips frequently cover one-third of the face. 
Nevertheless, their hands and feet are remarkably deli- 
cate and beautiful ; full-grown Hottentots easily wear 
the gloves and shoes of European children of eight or 
nine years old. 

The race is characterized by a peculiar and exceed- 
ingly disagreeable odor, so powerful that it may often 
be noticed in a room hours after a Hottentot has left 
it. For this reason they cannot be employed as house- 
servants, and all familiar intercourse with Europeans 
is prevented, except with the missionaries to whom 
such intercourse is a duty. As a natural consequence, 
the Hottentots are painted in very different colors by 
the latter and by English or Dutch colonists, the for- 
mer affirming that the work of conversion and civili- 
zation is succeeding among them, while the settlers 
say that they are still lazy, dishonest, and attached to 
the lowest features of their former life. 

The truth probably lies midway between these two 
representations. The Hottentot is good-natured, social, 
and fond of music ; therefore capable of a certain de- 
gree of civilization. On the other hand, he is indolent, 
capricious, servile under force, and impudent unde^ 
kindness. He is a child who requires a steady, strict, 
and humane discipline from the stronger race ; but 



THE NA TIVE TRIBES. 15 

this is not to be expected from any colonial govern- 
ment. 

A superior tribe, called the Griquas, has been pro- 
duced from the mixture of the Hottentots with the 
early Dutch settlers. They formed, at first, a nomadic 
race; but about the beginning of this century took 
possession of the territory along the Orange River, and 
gradually attached themselves to the ; soil. The mis- 
sionaries who had accompanied th^rfi in their wander- 
ings taught them to add agriculture to cattle-raising, 
to establish themselves in villages, and organize a prim- 
itive system. of government. The settlement has now 
a capital, Griqua City, and a population of more than 
20,000, which is rapidly increasing. 

The Griquas are taller and more vigorous than the 
Hottentots ; their skin has a lighter color, and their 
hair is more abundant. They are comparatively steady 
and industrious, less given to drunkenness, and their 
condition is regularly, if slowly, improving. In their 
settlement of Philippolis, on a branch of the Orange 
River, they have churches and schools, and cultivate 
large wheat-farms. Those of the tribe who retain 
more of the Hottentot blood and character, wander 
with their herds of cattle over the less fertile districts 
to the north of the river, where they have partly affil- 
iated themselves with another native tribe, the Koran- 
as, who somewhat resemble them. The latter are also 
herdsmen, but cultivate maize, melons, and tobacco, 
and carry on a considerable trade with the Cape, in 
cattle, hides and ostrich-feathers. Their former pro- 
pensity for war and plunder has been extinguished by 
the efforts of the missionaries who live among them. 



16 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

The western coast of South Africa, on both sides 
of the Orange River, is called " Namaqua-Land," from 
the large tribe of the Namaquas — a branch of the orig- 
inal Hottentot race — who inhabit it. Their home is 
found in those great sandy plains, which extend far 
inland, dotted with small oases, where scanty springs 
of water appear or disappear, according to the season. 
The greater part of the territory belongs to the Cape 
Colony, but the Government exercises little or no au- 
thority over the Namaquas. They wander over the 
desert with their herds of dwarf cattle, said to be the 
smallest in the world, seeking the scanty tracts of pas- 
turage. Sometimes there is no rain for four or five 
years, and they are then compelled to approach the 
more fertile regions to the eastward. The Namaquas 
are taller than the Hottentots, astonishingly lean, with 
strongly projecting cheek-bones, oblique eyes, and 
have little woolly knobs instead of hair. Their lan- 
guage is considered the purest of the Hottentot dia- 
lects. 

The last and lowest branch of this race is the 
Bushmen, as they are called by the settlers, their own 
name being Saab. The Bushman seems to be the 
native African savage, whom even the ruder civiliza- 
tion of his neighbors has left untouched, one of the 
lowest, most miserable and persecuted of the races of 
men. His home is in those desolate tracts of country 
which all other tribes have rejected as unfit for habita- 
tion. There are plenty of these tracts scattered over 
South Africa, and the Bushmen may therefore be 
found from the Karroo, or the Snowy Mountains, in 
the south, to Lake Ngami in the north, ranging from 




NAM AQUA MUSICIAN. 



THE NA TIVE TRIBES. 17 

will or necessity over hundreds of miles of territory. 
Their condition was the same as at present when the 
Dutch landed in Table Bay : they were looked upon 
as savages and outlaws by their Hottentot relatives. 

The Bushman is only 4 feet high, but rather sym- 
metrical in form. His skin is jet-black, and only ap- 
pears gray from its permanent coating of dust and 
ashes. His woolly hair hangs in short twists over his 
forehead and ears, and one of his greatest delights is to 
grease these twists and decorate them with feathers, 
shells, or pieces of bone. His clothing consists of a 
skin over the shoulders, and a thin leather girdle 
around the loins. His dwelling, whenever he happens 
to have one, is of the very simplest kind. He will 
sleep under a bush, in a hedge-hog's hole, beside an 
ant-hill, in the cleft of a rock ; but sometimes he bends 
a few sticks in a semicircular form, fastens their ends 
in the earth, covers them with grass and creeps under 
them. 

The language of the tribe, originally Hottentot, 
has become so changed in their wandering life that 
it now scarcely appears to be an articulate speech. It 
is a continual clucking of the tongue against the teeth 
or the roof of the mouth, mixed with snorts through 
the nose. For a long time it was supposed that the 
Bushmen were incapable of being improved, but many 
of them have learned the Dutch language, and their 
children have even been taught to read and write. 

These savages live upon whatever they find in 
their way. They prefer beef, and are arrant robbers 
to obtain it : they shoot antelopes, gnus, hyenas, with 
small poisoned arrows; grasshoppers and worms are 



18 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

welcome to them, and even the desert supplies a vari- 
ety of plants and roots which they eat raw. The 
Bushman wandering over the bare, burning sand, sees 
perhaps a single dried blade which no other eye than 
his own would detect ; he thrusts his bony linger into 
the soil, scoops out a rough bulb, and eats it as a deli- 
cious morsel. When he has slain a large animal, he 
so fills himself that he can afterwards go without food 
for a week. This mode of life, however, soon ex- 
hausts his vital forces; he is old, withered and gray at 
the age of forty, if, indeed, the bullet of a settler or 
the lance of a Kaffer has not pierced him long before 
that age. 

Not only the Dutch and English colonists, but 
every native tribe in South Africa, wage war upon 
the Bushmen. The latter, it is true, provoke this con- 
tinual hostility by their thefts of cattle from the outly- 
ing settlements. In former times it was customary to 
organize expeditions for the pursuit and slaughter of 
the Bushmen, and even now, after all the efforts made 
by missionaries, by the Government and by private 
individuals, but very little change has been effected. 
Almost the only successful attempt to improve the 
condition of the tribe w T as made by one of the Bechu- 
ana chiefs, who collected a number of Bushmen to- 
gether, gave them cattle and persuaded them to culti- 
vate the soil. The descendants of these people, it is 
said, have entirely lost their nomadic instincts, and 
now resemble the other branches of the Hottentot 
race. 

The eastern half of South Africa, and a portion of 
the central region, is mainly inhabited by a very dif- 



THE NA TIVE TRIBES. 19 

ferent race of natives, all apparently related to each 
other, though now divided into distinct tribes, the 
Bechuanas, Bassutos, and the various branches of the 
KafFers. The former inhabit the territory stretching 
from the upper waters of the Orange River northward 
to the Kalihari Desert and towards the Zambesi ; the 
Bassutos live on the western slopes of the Dragon 
Mountains, and the KafFers (where tfyey have not been 
forced into the interior by English^ settlement) have 
possession of the eastern coast. 

The Bechuanas have been made familiar to us by 
the missionary labors of Mr. MofFatt, one of the first 
and boldest explorers of the interior. They are a race 
superior to the Hottentots, both in physical structure 
and in. their natural capacity for improvement. They 
live chiefly in kraals, or villages, cultivate the soil, 
and have a rude patriarchal form of government. Like 
their relatives, the KafFers, they have produced many 
men of unusal energy and intelligence. 

The region inhabited by the Bassutos was an un- 
known land thirty or forty years ago. The Griquas 
and Koranas gave the first intimation of the existence 
of the race, and the zealous missionaries, guided by 
them, set out for this new field of labor. The chief of 
the Bassutos, Moshesh, who is still living, sent word 
that he desired a visit from some of the "men of 
prayer," in the hope that he might be protected by 
them from the forays of the Griquas. After a long 
and wearisome journey up the Caledon River, one of 
the southern branches of the Orange, the missionaries 
saw at last the picturesque chain of the Dragon Moun- 
tains. The rolling and ascending table-land over which 



20 tra vels in so uth Africa. 

they had travelled gave way to a singularly wild and 
broken country. Isolated mountains, or masses of 
sandstone rock, five or six hundred feet in height, and 
sometimes several miles in circumference, studded the 
region ; the vegetation was rich and strange, semi-trop- 
ical in character, and game was abundant. Between 
the peaks opjened deep basins, or long, trough-like 
valleys, watered with beautiful streams. 

They found the chief Moshesh at his residence of 
Thaba Bossiu, a singular table-mountain, which the 
Bassutos had made inaccessible to their enemies. 
Owing to the security of the place, the valley w T as 
partly cultivated, and the adjacent region was dotted 
with villages and herds. The rains, which fall regularly 
on the mountains from October to April, nourish a rich 
vegetation, and those wild people, under the direction 
of their heroic chief, had already begun the cultivation 
of wheat and fruits. 

For a number of years the missionaries, who were 
French Protestants, w T orked among the Bassutos with 
encouraging success. The people learned to read and 
write, showed an unusual quickness of understanding, 
and were deeply impressed by the Bible narratives. 
Moshesh took the lead in these changes ; the printing 
of the Bible in the native language was commenced, 
and there was every prospect of the complete conversion 
of the tribe, when the emigration of the Dutch Boers 
and the establishment of their Orange River Republic 
interrupted the good work. The Bassuto territory 
was invaded, wars arose, the English Government sup^ 
ported the petty chiefs in a revolt against Moshesh, 
the natives lost their faith in the efficacy of Christian 




MOSHECII, CHIEF OF THE BASSUTOS 



THE NATIVE TRIBES. 21 

doctrines, and in four years had relapsed into worse 
than their former condition. Of late years the work 
has been resumed, since the establishment of a fixed 
boundary between the Boers and the Bassutos secures 
a season of peace. 

The Bassutos, like the Bechuanas, are tall, strong, 
well-built, and often strikingly handsome in form, and 
quick and graceful in their movement's. There is very 
little of the negro character in their faces, and some 
have the appearance of dark-brown Caucasians. They 
live in small straw-huts, shaped like bee-hives, and 
arranged in a circle, where their herds are kept at 
night. The chief's house stands alone, upon an eleva- 
ted point, near which there is an inclosure where the 
elders of the village meet to discuss matters of general 
interest, decide disputes, and punish crimes. The 
people live almost entirely in the open air, only enter- 
ing their huts when it rains, or in case of sickness. 
They have some mechanical skill, manufacturing their 
own knives, baskets, household implements, and even 
a kind of felt cloth. Like the Hottentots, they are 
lazy and thievish, the only employment which they 
relish being the herding of their cattle. The Bassuto 
will pass whole days sitting on his heels and talking 
with his neighbor, or smoking hemp until he is stupid, 
or lying on the ground in the sun, while his wife per- 
forms all the necessary household labors. 

The old chief Moshesh, in 1859, visited the settle- 
ment of Aliwal, on Orange River, in order to pay his 
respects to Prince Alfred and Governor Grey. He 
was accompanied by three thousand Bassuto horsemen, 
five hundred of whom wore skins of lions and leop- 



22 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

ards. The wild war-dance which they performed 
must have been the most remarkable spectacle seen 
by the Prince on his voyage around the world. The 
old chief wore the European costume, with a high 
black hat and a heavy military cloak. On the top of 
his natural fortress of Thaba Bossiu he has built an 
English house, and filled it with modern furniture, but 
still lives in a little native hut, smears his body with a 
mixture of fat and red clay, and hangs around his neck 
every trinket which he can beg from a chance visitor. 
The Kaffers — a name derived from the Arabic 
Tcaftr, a heretic — inhabit all the country from the 
Snowy and Dragon Mountains to the Indian Ocean, 
while the same race is found between the Limpopo 
and the Zambesi Rivers, and, according to Livingstone, 
in the upper valley of that river. They are, in many 
respects, a remarkable race, showing a strange mixture 
of the native African and the Caucasian in their 
features, their habits of life and their intellectual qual- 
ities. For this reason some have conjectured that 
they are of mixed blood, produced — like the Griquas, 
in later times — by the intercourse of the Arabs with 
the natives of the eastern coast, during the Middle 
Ages. Although divided into many detached tribes, 
the essential characteristics of the race are found in 
all. Proud, independent, courageous, and dignified in 
their bearing, they form the strangest possible contrast 
with the Hottentots; and they have many natural 
virtues which might have carried them far towards 
civilization, but for the wars into which they have 
been plunged by the rapacity of the Dutch and Eng- 
lish settlers. These wars have not only greatly di- 



THE NA TIVE TRIBES, 23 

miiiished their numbers, but kept alive a feeling of 
implacable hatred towards the white race, which the 
missionaries have only mitigated, not subdued. 

The Amakosa Kaffers, inhabiting the beautiful and 
fertile terraces of the eastern coast, furnish, perhaps, 
the best type of the race. Favored by soil and cli- 
mate, they have developed an unusual degree of beauty 
and symmetry. Although their |^ir is woolly, and 
their lips and cheek-bones suggest the negro, the Cau- 
casian character is predominant, both in the features 
and the form of the skull. The forehead indicates in- 
telligence, and the aquiline nose and clear, brilliant 
eyes are thoroughly Semitic. These Kaffers are quick 
of apprehension, cunning, noble-minded and firm of 
character, yet cautious in manner, and with a certain 
expression of pride and reserve. Towards strangers 
their bearing is cold, almost contemptuous, and only 
slowly changes when their confidence has been secured. 
They are strong and active, and naturally averse to 
an indolent habit of life. Their activity, however, is 
rather manifested in war and the chase than in useful 
labor. In their public assemblies and debates they ex- 
hibit a genuine oratorical power, and the keenness and 
closeness of their reasoning is quite remarkable. They 
have both a local attachment, and a strong patriotic, 
or national, feeling, in which respect they differ favor- 
ably from almost all other native African tribes. 

The Kaffers are herdsmen, without being nomads. 
The fortunate chara ter of the , territory where they 
settled long ago, after having, according to their tradi- 
tions, migrated from the north, gives them continual 
pastures, without changing their homes. The eastern 



24 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

coast of Africa, for a breadth of fifteen or twenty miles, 
is tropical : then it gradually rises to a height of 2,000 
feet above the sea, — a broad table-land, warm yet tem- 
perate, with a soil which produces all varieties of grain 
and fruit ; and finally, twenty miles further, there is a 
second elevation of 2,000 feet, beyond which there are 
grand forests, and inexhaustible pastures. On these 
rising plateaux the Kaffers have lived for centuries, de- 
veloping a simple yet sufficient form of government, 
a rude religion, and a highly imaginative and pic- 
turesque literature. 

The races of South Africa thus divide themselves 
into two families, the limits of which are tolerably 
well defined. A line drawn north and south, through 
the centre of this extremity of the continent, would 
leave the Hottentot tribes on the west and the Kaffer 
tribes on the east. By bearing in mind the peculiar 
characteristics of each, and their differences, the reader 
will more readily comprehend the difficulties which 
surrounded each special field of exploration. 



■■ ■ T -T-r.- 




CHAPTER III. 

moffat's missionary journeys. 

/ 

AS we have already indicated, the Protestant mis- 
sionaries were really the first explorers of South 
Africa, for the exploration of the interior (beyond the 
discovery of the Orange River) did not commence 
until after the Cape Colony had passed into the hands 
of England. To comprehend how much those mis- 
sionaries dared, in their zeal for the conversion of the 
native tribes, we must remember how the hostility be- 
tween the Dutch Boers and the Hottentots, especially 
the Namaquas and Bushmen, had been confirmed by 
generations of warfare. It was a settled, chronic en- 
mity, and the suspicion which it engendered could 
only be overcome by slow degrees. 

The first missionaries sent to the Cape of Good 
Hope had, therefore, a far more serious task before them 
than the successors for whom they prepared the way. 
The patience, zeal and integrity of the Scotch charac- 
ter was admirably adapted to this arduous work, and in 
the annals of missionary enterprise there are no more 
deserving names than those of Campbell, Moffat, and 
Livingstone. The first of these greatly increased our 
knowledge of the native tribes, but did not accomplish a 
great deal in the way of exploration. Robert Moffat, 
who was sent out by the London Missionary Society in 



26 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

1817, and labored steadily in the field for nearly forty 
years, then transferring his mantle to the shoulders of 
his son-in-law, Livingstone, was the first to penetrate 
into the unknown regions beyond the Orange River, as 
far as the Bamangwato Mountains, north of the head- 
waters of the Limpopo. His work, " Missionary Scenes 
and Labors in Southern Africa," published in London 
in 1842, is not a connected narrative of his journeys, 
but a series of incidents, observations and reflections, 
which, nevertheless, contains much geographical infor- 
mation that was new and valuable at the time. 

Mr. Moffat's first years were spent in what is called 
Great Namaqua-land, on the western coast, north of 
the Orange River, a country of sand and stones, with 
a thinly-scattered population, always suffering from the 
lack of water. The region is traversed by the Fish 
and Oup Rivers and their tributaries — or, rather, the 
glowing beds wherein those rivers flow, when there 
happens to be any water. "Sometimes," he says, "for 
years together, they are not known to run ; w T hen, after 
the stagnant pools are dried up, the natives congregate 
to their beds and dig holes, or wells, in some instances 
to the depth of twenty feet from which they draw 
water, generally of a very inferior quality. They 
place branches of trees in the excavation, and with 
great labor, under a hot sun, hand up the water in 
a wooden vessel and pour it into an artificial trough, to 
which the panting, lowing herds approach, partially to 
satiate their thirst. Thunder-storms are eagerly anti- 
cipated, for by these only rain falls; and frequently 
these storms will pass over with tremendous violence, 
striking the inhabitants with awe, while not a single 



MOFFA TS MISSION A R Y JO URNE YS. 2 7 

drop of rain descends to cool and fructify the parched 
waste. 

" When the heavens let down their watery treas- 
ures, it is generally in a partial strip of country which 
the electric cloud has traversed, so that the traveller 
will frequently pass, almost instantaneously, from 
ground on which there is not a blade of grass, into 
tracts of luxuriant green, sprung up after a passing 
storm. Fountains are indeed few and far between, the 
best very inconsiderable, frequently very salt, and some 
of them hot springs, while the surrounding soil is gen- 
erally so impregnated with saltpetre, as to crackle un- 
der the feet like hoar-frost, and it is with great diffi- 
culty that any kind of vegetable can be made to grow. 
Much of the country is hard and stony, interspersed 
with plains of deep sand. There is much granite, and 
quartz is so abundantly scattered, reflecting such a 
glare of light from the rays of the sun, that the trav- 
eller, if exposed at noonday, can scarcely allow his eye- 
lids to be sufficiently open to enable him to keep his 



course." 



The inhabitants of this region were the Namaqua 
branch of the Hottentots, who have already been des- 
cribed. Their chief at this time was a native named 
Africaner, who had been a slave to a Dutch farmer, 
but, having been treated with cruelty, murdered his 
master, led his tribe beyond the Orange River, and 
thenceforth made such forays into the colony that his 
very name had become a terror. He was victorious 
over all native enemies, successful over all the plots 
made to destroy him, and his power seemed to inter- 
pose an insurmountable obstacle to any further advance 



28 TRA VELS IN SO UTH AFRICA. 

into the interior. The missionary, Campbell, however, 
conciliated his favor by a friendly letter ; his colleague, 
Ebner, followed, and succeeded in converting Africaner 
and his family to Christianity. 

On Moffat's arrival at the Cape, he found Mr. Eb- 
ner, who had just returned from Africaner's land, and 
he determined, at once, to accompany him thither. It 
was a proper beginning for his later labors. On ap- 
proaching the northern borders of the Cape Colony, he 
says : " It was evident to me, that the farmers, who, of 
course, had not one good word to say of Africaner, 
were skeptical to the last degree about his reported 
conversion, and most unceremoniously predicted my 
destruction. One said he would set me up as a mark 
for his boys to shoot at ; another that he would strip 
off my skin and make a drum of it to dance to ; and 
another most consoling prediction was that lie would 
make a drinking-cup of my skull. I believe they were 
serious, and especially a kind, motherly lady, who, wip- 
ing the tears from her eyes, bade me farewell, saying : 
6 Had you been an old man, it would have been nothing, 
for you must soon have died, whether or no ; but you are 
young, and going to become a prey to that monster.' " 

Moffat safely reached Africaner's village, but the 
people were reserved, suspicious and unfriendly. The 
chief did not immediately visit him, but when he 
had done so, and learned that Moffat had been sent 
out by the London Missionary Society, he expressed 
his satisfaction, and added that as he was a young man 
he hoped he should live long with him and his people. 
He then ordered a number of women to come, an at- 
tention which somewhat puzzled the missionary, until 



MOFFA T'S MISSIONAR Y JO URNE YS. 29 

the women arrived, bearing bundles of native mats and 
long poles, like fishing-rods. Africaner pointed to a 
spot of ground, and said : " You must build there a 
house for the missionary." A circle was instantly 
formed, the women fixed the poles, tied them down in 
a hemispheric form, and covered them with mats, all 
ready for habitation, in the space of little more than 
half an hour. j 

Mr. Moffat confesses, however, that a Hottentot 
house is not very comfortable. " I lived," he says, 
" nearly six months in this native hut, which very fre- 
quently required tightening and fastening after a 
storm. When the sun shone, it was unbearably hot, 
when the rain fell, I came in for a share of it ; when 
the wind blew I had frequently to decamp to escape 
the dust ; and in addition to these little inconvenien- 
ces, any hungry cur of a dog that wished a night's 
lodging, would force itself through the frail wall, and 
not unfrequently deprive me of my meal for the com- 
ing day ; and I have more than once found a serpent 
coiled up in a corner. Nor were these all the contin- 
gencies of such a dwelling, for, as the cattle belonging 
to the village had no fold, I have been compelled to 
start up from a sound sleep, and try to defend myself 
and my dwelling from being crushed to pieces by the 
rage of two bulls which had met to fight a nocturnal 
duel." 

It was soon evident that Africaner's conversion was 
as genuine as his limited intelligence would admit. He 
attended seriously to Mr. Moffat's instructions, treated 
him in the most friendly manner, and even, at times, 
manifested a sensibility in regard to moral impressions, 



30 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

which could hardly have been expected in one of his 
degraded race. " One day, when seated together," 
the missionary relates, " I happened, in absence of 
mind, to be gazing steadfastly on him. It arrested his 
attention, and he modestly inquired the cause. I re- 
plied, ' I was trying to picture to myself your carry- 
ing lire and sword through the country, and I could 
not think how eyes like yours could smile at human 
woe ! ' He answered not, but shed a flood of tears ! 
He zealously seconded my efforts to improve the peo- 
ple in cleanliness and industry, and it would have made 
any one smile to have seen Africaner and myself super- 
intending the school children, now about a hundred 
and twenty, washing themselves at the fountain." 

The place which Africaner had selected for his vil- 
lage was not well adapted for a permanent habitation ; 
so, accompanied by Moffat, he set out to examine the 
country to the northward. The record of this journey, 
however, relates rather to the natives than to the geo- 
graphical character of the region. Failing to find the 
requisite supply of water, they returned, and we can 
only guess that they must have penetrated as far as the 
tropical line. Several months afterwards, Moffat un- 
dertook to visit the Griqua country, further up the 
Orange River, in the interest of Africaner, who was 
desirous of settling in some locality where his tribe 
could be permanently subsisted. 

This second journey was successful in its object, 
but, before commencing the migration, Moffat found it 
necessary to visit Capetown, and he proposed that Af- 
ricaner should accompany him. As a reward of a 
thousand dollars had been offered for the chief's head, 



MOFFA T'S MISSION A R Y JO URNE VS. 31 

both he and his people objected to the plan ; since, al- 
though he might not be molested by the Government, 
he could hardly escape the vengeance of the colonists, 
through whose territory they must pass. It was finally 
arranged that Africaner should go in disguise, as Mof- 
fat's servant, and the latter set out on his return to civ- 
ilization. He relates an interesting incident which oc- 
curred after reaching the settlements ; 

" On approaching the place, which was on an emi- 
nence, I directed my men to take the wagon to 
the valley below, while I walked towards the 
house. The farmer, seeing a stranger, came slowly 
down the descent to meet me. When within a few 
yards, I addressed him in the usual way, and stretching 
out my hand, expressed my pleasure at seeing him 
again. He put his hand behind him, and asked me, 
rather wildly, who I was. I replied that I was Moffat, 
oxpressing my wonder that he should have forgotten 
me. ' Moffat ! ' he rejoined, in a faltering voice ; ' it 
is your ghost ! ' and moved some steps backward. i I 
am no ghost,' I said. 'Don't come near me ! ' he ex- 
claimed, ' you have been long murdered by Africaner.' 
6 But / am no ghost,' I said, feeling my hands, as if to 
convince him, and myself too, of my materiality ; but 
his alarm only increased. ' Everybody says you were 
murdered, and a man told me he had seen your bones ; ' 
and he continued to gaze at me, to the no small aston- 
ishment of the good wife and children, who were 
standing at the door, as also to that of my own people, 
who were looking on from the wagon below. At 
length he extended his trembling hand, saying, 4 When 
did you rise from the dead ? ' 



32 TRA VELS IN SO UTH AFRICA, 

" As he feared my presence would alarm his wife, 
we bent onr steps towards the wagon, and Africaner 
was the subject of our conversation. I gave him in a 
few words my views of his present character, saying : 
' He is now a truly good man,' — to which he replied : 
' I can believe almost anything you say, but that I can- 
not credit.' By this time we were standing with Af- 
ricaner at our feet ; on his countenance sat a smile, he 
well knowing the prejudices of some of the farmers. 
The man closed the conversation by saying, with 
much earnestness, '"Well, if what you assert be true 
respecting that man, I have only one wish, and that is, 
to see him before I die ; and when you return, as sure 
as the sun is over our heads, I will go with you to see 
him, though he killed my own uncle.' I was not be- 
fore aware of this fact, and now felt some hesitation 
whether to discover to him the object of his wonder ; 
but knowing the sincerity. of the farmer and the good- 
ness of his disposition, I said, ' This, then, is Afri- 
caner.' He started back, looking intensely at the man 
as if he had just dropped from the clouds. ' Are you 
Africaner ? ' he exclaimed. The chief arose, doffed 
his old hat, and making a polite bow, answered, ' I am.' 
The farmer seemed thunder-struck ; but when, by a 
few questions, he had assured himself of the fact, that 
the former bugbear of the border stood before him, 
now meek and lamb-like in his whole deportment, he 
lifted up his eyes and exclaimed, ' O Grod, what a mir- 
acle of thy power! what cannot thy grace accom- 
plish ! ' The kind farmer and his no less hospitable 
wife, now abundantly supplied our wants ; but we has- 
tened our departure lest the intelligence might get 






MOFFA T'S MISSIONAR Y JO URNE YS. 33 

abroad that Africaner was with me, and bring un- 
pleasant visitors." 

On arriving at Capetown, Africaner was received 
with much kindness by the Governor, Lord Charles 
Somerset. His presence produced a great sensation 
among the people, who were only gradually convinced 
of the sincerity of his conversion; but at a public 
meeting, which was held for the purpose, he displayed 
a surprising familiarity with the Gospel narratives and 
teachings. This first success encouraged Mr. Moffat 
to continue his labors, and in 1821 he established him- 
self at Kuruman, in the Bechuana country. He was 
forced to contend with great difficulties, on account of 
the lazy and thievish habits of the natives, and their 
indifference to instruction, unless it was accompanied 
by some material advantage. The vegetables, which 
the missionaries had raised with great labor, would be 
stolen from their gardens ; their houses were pilfered 
during service on the Sabbath ; and the conduct of 
even the converted natives was so careless and irrev- 
erent that the teachers were greatly discouraged. 
After five years of the greatest patience they had made 
so little impression on the minds of the people, that 
their position among them seemed as insecure as at the 
beginning. The incident which revealed this insecu- 
rity is a curious illustration of the superstitions of the 
Bechuanas. 

"Years of drought had been severely felt," says 
Moffat, " and the natives, tenacious of their faith in the 
potency of a man, held a council, and passed resolutions 
to send for a rain-maker of renown from the Bahurutsi 
tribe, two hundred miles uorth-east of the Kuruman 
■2 



34 TEA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

station. Rain-makers have always most honor among 
a strange people, and therefore they are generally for- 
eigners. The heavens had been as brass, — scarcely a 
cloud had been seen for months, even on the distant 
horizon. Suddenly a shout was raised, and the whole 
town was in motion : the rain-maker was approaching. 
Every voice was raised to the highest pitch, with ac- 
clamations of enthusiastic joy. He had sent a harbin- 
ger to announce his approach, with peremptory orders 
for all the inhabitants to wash their feet. Every one 
seemed to fly in swiftest obedience to the adjoining 
river. Noble and ignoble, even the girl who attended 
to our kitchen-fire, ran ; old and young ran ; all the 
world could not have stopped them. By this time the 
clouds began to gather, and a crowd went out to wel- 
come the mighty man, who, as they imagined, was 
now collecting in the heavens his stores of rain. 

" Just as he was descending the height into the 
town, the immense concourse danced and shouted, so 
that the very earth rang, and at the same time the 
lightnings darted, and the thunders roared in awful 
grandeur. A few heavy drops fell, which produced 
the most thrilling ecstacy in the deluded multitude, 
w T hose shoutings baffled all description. Faith hung 
upon the lips of the impostpr, while he proclaimed 
aloud that this year the women must cultivate gardens 
on the hills and not in the valleys, for the latter would 
be deluged. After the din had somewhat subsided, a 
few individuals came to our dwellings to treat us and 
our doctrines with derision. ' Where is your God ? ' 
one asked with a sneer. We were silent, because the 
wicked were before us. 'Have you not seen our 



MOFFA T'S MISSIONAR Y JO URNE VS. 35 

Morimo? Have you not beheld him cast from his 
arm the fiery spears, and rend the heavens? Have 
you not heard with your ears his voice in the clouds ? ' 
adding with an interjection of supreme disgust, ' Yon 
talk of Jehovah and Jesus, what can they do ? ' Never 
in my life do I remember a text being brought home 
with such power as the words of the Psalmist, ' Be 
still, and know that I am God : I wiU/be exalted among 
the heathen.' 

" The rain-maker found the clouds in our country 
rather harder to manage than those he had left. He 
complained that secret rogues w r ere disobeying his 
proclamations. When urged to make repeated trials, 
he would reply, l You only give me sheep and goats to 
kill, therefore I can only make goat-rain ; give me fat 
slaughter-oxen, and I shall let you see ox-rain.' One 
day, as he was taking a sound sleep, a shower fell, on 
which one of the principal men entered his house to 
congratulate him, but to his utter amazement found 
him totally insensible to what was transpiring. ' Hal- 
loo, by my father ! I thought you were making rain,' 
said the intruder ; w r hen the magician arising from his 
slumbers, and seeing his wdfe sitting on the floor, 
shaking a milk-sack, in order to obtain a little butter, 
to anoint her hair, he replied, pointing to the operation 
of churning, ' Do you not see my wife churning rain 
as fast as she can ? ' This reply gave entire satisfaction, 
and it presently spread through the length and breadth 
of the town, that the rain-maker had churned the 
shower out of a milk-sack. The moisture caused by 
this shower was dried up by a scorching sun ; many 
long weeks followed without a single cloud, and when 



36 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

they did appear, they were sometimes seen, to the 
great mortification of the conjurer, to discharge their 
watery treasures at an immense distance. 

" The rain-maker had recourse to numerous expe- 
dients and stratagems, and continued his performances 
for many weeks. All his efforts, however, proving 
unsuccessful, he kept himself very secluded for a 
fortnight, and, after cogitating how he could make his 
own cause good, he appeared in the public fold, and 
proclaimed that he had discovered the cause of the 
drought. All were now eagerly listening ; he dilated 
some time, until he had raised their expectation to the 
highest pitch, when he revealed the mystery. ' Do 
you not see, when clouds come over us, that Hamilton 
and Moffat look at them ? ' This question receiving a 
hearty and unanimous affirmation, he added that our 
white faces frightened away the clouds, and they need 
not expect rain so long as we were in the country. 
This was a home-stroke, and it was an easy matter for 
us to calculate what the influence of such a charge 
would be on the public mind. We were very soon 
informed of the evil of our conduct, to which we 
plead guilty, promising that as we were not aware 
that we were doing wrong, being as anxious as any of 
them for rain, we would willingly look to our chins, 
or the ground all the day long, if it would serve their 
purpose. It was rather remarkable, that much as they 
admired my long black beard, they thought that in 
this case it was most to blame. However, this season 
of trial passed over to our great comfort, though it 
was followed for some time with many indications of 
suspicion and distrust." 



MOFFA T'S MISSION A R Y JO URNE VS. 37 

For a number of years Mr. Moffat continued his 
missionary labors, gradually extending his journeys 
further into the interior. He made the acquaintance 
of the Barolong tribe, who live to the north of the 
Bechuana, among the Bawangwato Mountains, which 
divide the waters of the Orange River from the Kal- 
ahari Desert. His accounts of the character and cus- 
toms of the native tribes are ver^fenorough and com- 
plete ; and if he gives us few geographical details, he 
at least opened the way for geographical explorers. 

His account of the manner in which the conversion 
of the natives is preceded or accompanied by external 
signs, entirely corresponds with the later observations 
of Livingstone. " For a long period," he says, " w^hen a 
man was seen to make a pair of trowsers for himself, or 
a woman a gown, it was a sure indication that w r e 
might expect additions to our inquirers. Abandoning 
the custom of painting the body, and beginning to 
wash w T ith water, was with them w T hat cutting off the 
hair was among the South-Sea islanders, — a public re- 
nunciation of heathenism. In the progress of improve- 
ment during the years which followed, and by which 
many individuals who made no profession of the 
Gospel were influenced, w^e were frequently much 
amused. A man might be seen in a jacket with but one 
sleeve, because the other was not finished, or he lacked 
material to complete it ; another in a leathern or duf- 
fle jacket, with the sleeves of different colors, or of fine 
printed cotton. Gowns were seen like Joseph's coat 
of many colors, and dresses of such fantastic shapes as 
were calculated to excite a smile in the gravest of 
us." 



38 TEA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

In the course of time the missionary stations were 
pushed as far as the village of Kolobeng, on the head- 
waters of the Limpopo, in Lat. 24° S., and consequently 
near the tropical line. The unknown territory to the 
north-east of this point, lying between the Limpopo and 
Zambesi rivers, was inhabited by the Matsebele, a 
branch of the Kaffers, whose chief, Mosilikatse, had 
acquired great renown through South Africa, carrying 
his hostile inroads in all directions, even as far as the 
Orange River. In 1829 two messengers of the chief 
visited the country of the Bechuanas, and Mr. Moffat 
determined to accompany them on their return. It 
was a hazardous journey, but the intrepid missionary 
was not to be turned aside from his purpose. On the 
way, he fell in with a tribe of natives which no white 
man had ever before seen. 

On reaching the first cattle outposts of the Matse- 
bele tribe, they encamped beside a fine rivulet. " My 
attention," says Mr. Moffat, " was arrested by a beau- 
tiful and gigantic tree, standing in a defile leading 
into an extensive and woody ravine, between a high 
range of mountains. Seeing some individuals em- 
ployed on the ground under its shade, and the conical 
points of what looked like houses in miniature pro- 
truding through its evergreen foliage, I proceeded 
thither, and found that the tree was inhabited by sev- 
eral families of Bakones, the aborigines of the country. 
I ascended by the notched trunk, and found, to my 
amazement, no less than seventeen of these aerial 
abodes, and three others unfinished. On reaching the 
topmost hut, about thirty feet from the ground, I en- 
tered and sat down. Its only furniture was the hay 



MOFFA T'S MISSIONAR Y JO URNE YS. 39 

which covered the floor, a spear, a spoon, and a bowl- 
full of locusts. Not having eaten anything that day, 
and, from the novelty of my situation, not wishing to 
return immediately to the wagons, I asked a woman, 
who sat at the door with a babe at her breast, permis- 
sion to eat. This she granted with pleasure, and soon 
brought me more, in a powdered state. Several more 
females came from the neighboring/ roosts, stepping 
from branch to branch to see the stranger, who was as 
great a curiosity to them as the tree was to him. I 
then visited the different abodes, which were on sev- 
eral principal branches. The structure of these houses 
was very simple. An oblong scaffold, about seven 
feet wide, is formed of straight sticks ; on one end of 
this platform a small cone is formed, also of straight 
sticks, and thatched with grass. A person can nearly 
stand upright in it ; the diameter of the floor is about 
six feet. The house stands on the end of the oblong, 
so as to leave a little square space before the door. 
On the day previous I had passed several villages, 
some containing forty houses, all built on poles about 
seven or eight feet from the ground, in the form of a 
circle ; the ascent and descent are by a knotty branch 
of a tree placed in front of the house. In the centre 
of the circle there is always a heap of the bones of the 
game they have killed. Such were the domiciles of 
the impoverished thousands of the aborigines of the 
country, who, having been scattered and peeled by 
Mosilikatse, had neither herd nor stall, but subsisted 
on locusts, roots, and the chase. They adopted this 
mode of architecture to escape the lions which abound 
in that country." 



4-0 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

Mr. Moffat was kindly received by the chief, Mo- 
silikatse, who patiently listened to his instructions, but 
does not appear to have profited by them. He re- 
turned in safety to the Bechnana country, and finally, 
in the years 1837 and 1838, had the satisfaction of 
seeing a great and wide-spread movement among the 
natives to adopt Christianity and accustom themselves 
to settled and industrious habits of life. 

More than any other man, Mr. Moffat opened the 
interior of South Africa, from the Orange River to 
the tropical line, and when he relaxed from his long 
and arduous task, there was another ready to take it 
up and carry it so far that we may safely say that no 
other individual has contributed so much to our 
knowledge of the unknown interior of Africa. This 
man, who took Moffat's daughter as his wife, and made 
her the companion of his first journeys of exploration, 
was David Livingstone. 




HIPPOPOTAMUS TRAP. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Livingstone's discovery of iake ngami. 



DR. LIVINGSTONE, in the opening chapter of 
his u Travels and Researches in South Africa," 
gives an interesting description of his youth, and the 
manner in which he educated himself for the missionary 
field, not then anticipating a life of discovery. His 
father was a small tradesman in a village near Glasgow, 
and his own early years were spent in a cotton factory, 
where he acquired the scanty means which were neces- 
sary for a limited education. He studied Latin at 
night, read all books upon which he could lay his 
hands, preferring scientific works and books of travel, 
and finally, having been brought up by his parents 
under strict religious influences, determined to qualify 
himself for the office of missionary among the Chinese. 
While working as a cotton-spinner, at the age of 
nineteen, he contrived to carry on his studies in Greek, 
divinity and medicine, and without aid from any one 
succeeded in graduating in the latter branch. At this 
time some friends advised him to apply to the Lon- 
don Missionary Society, on account of its unsectarian 
character. The opium war, which was then raging, 
interfered with his original plan of going to China, 
and, after having been accepted by the London Society, 
and prepared himself still further by a course of the- 



42 DISCO VER Y OF LAKE NGAMI. 

ology in England, he was induced to look upon South 
Africa as the field of his future labors. In 1840 he 
sailed from England, a young man of twenty-two, full 
of health, strength, hope, and courage. 

The general instructions w T hich he received from 
the Directors of the London Missionary Society led 
him, as soon as lie had reached Kuruman, which w^as 
then their farthest inland station from the Cape, to 
turn his attention to the regions lying north of that 
point. He therefore lost no time in visiting the Bak- 
wain country and making the acquaintance of the 
chief Sechele. The result of this trip w T as that he es- 
tablished himself in a spot, fifteen miles from the 
chief's residence ; and there, in order to obtain an ac- 
curate knowledge of the language, cut himself off from 
all European society for six months. He thus gained 
an insight into the habits, w^ays of thinking, laws and 
language of that section of the Bechuanas called Bak- 
wains, which proved to be of incalculable advantage 
in his later travels. During a journey to the north in 
1842, he was, without knowing it, within ten days of 
the waters flowing into Lake Ngami, and might then 
have discovered that lake, if discovery had been his 
object. 

Having finally selected the beautiful valley of Ma- 
botsa (in Lat. 25° 14 ' S.) as the site of a new mission- 
ary station, he settled there in 1843. Here an occur- 
rence took place, which came near putting an end to his 
adventurous career. The neighborhood was infected 
w T ith lions, which even attacked the herds of the na- 
tives in open day. This w^as so unusual an occurrence 
that the people believed they were bewitched, that is, 



DISCO VER Y OF LAKE NGAMI 43 

given into the power of the lions by a neighboring 
tribe. What followed must be given in Livingstone's 
own words : 

" It is well known that if one of a troop of lions is 
killed, the others take the hint and leave that part of 
the country. So, the next time the herds were at- 
tacked, I w r ent with the people, in order to encourage 
them to rid themselves of the annoyajlee by destroying 
one of the marauders. We found the lions on a small 
hill about a quarter of a mile in length, and covered 
with trees. A circle of men was formed round it, and 
they gradually closed up, ascending pretty near to each 
other. Being down below on the plain with a native 
schoolmaster, named Mebalwe, a most excellent man, 
I saw one of the lions sitting on a piece of rock within 
the now closed circle of men. Mebalwe fired at him 
before I could, and the ball struck the rock on which 
the animal was sitting. He bit at the spot struck, as 
a dog does at a stick or stone thrown at him; then 
leaping away, broke through the opening circle and 
escaped unhurt. The men were afraid to attack him, 
perhaps on account of their belief in witchcraft. 
When the circle was re-formed, we saw two other 
lions in it ; but we were afraid to fire lest we should 
strike the men, and they allowed the beasts to burst 
through also. If the Bakatla had acted according to 
the custom of the country, they would have speared 
the lions in their attempt to get out. Seeing we could 
not get them to kill one of the lions, we bent our foot- 
steps toward the village ; in going round the end of 
the hill, however, I saw one of the beasts sitting on a 
piece of rock as before, but this time he had a little 



44 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 

bush in front. Being about thirty yards off', I took a 
good aim at his body through the bush, and fired both 
barrels into it. The men then called out, 'He is shot, 
he is shot ! ' Others cried, ' He has been shot by an- 
other man too ; let us go to him ! ' I did not see 
any one else shoot at him, but I saw the lion's tail 
erected in anger behind the bush, and, turning to the 
people, said, ' Stop a little, till I load again.' When 
in the act of ramming down the bullets, I heard a 
shout. Starting, and looking half round, I saw the 
lion just in the act of springing upon me. I was upon 
a little height ; he caught my shoulder as he sprang, 
and we both came to the ground below together. 
Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a 
terrier dog does a rat. The shock produced a stupor 
similar to that which seems to be felt by a mouse after 
the first shake of the cat. It caused a sort of dreami- 
ness, in which there was no sense of pain nor feeling of 
terror, though quite conscious of all that was happening. 
It was like what patients partially under the influence 
of chloroform describe, who see all the operation, but 
feel not the knife. This singular condition was not 
the result of any mental process. The shake annihil- 
ated fear, and allowed no sense of horror in looking 
round at the beast. This peculiar state is probably 
produced in all animals killed by the carnivora ; and 
if so, is a merciful provision by our benevolent Creator 
for lessening the pain of death. Turning round to re- 
lieve myself of the weight, as he had one paw on the 
back of my head, I saw his eyes directed to Mebalwe, 
who was trying to shoot him at a distance of ten or 
fifteen yards. His gun, a flint one, missed fire in both 




LIVINGSTONE ATTACKED BY A LION. 



DISCOVERY OF LAKE NGAMI. 45 

barrels ; the lion immediately left me, and, attack- 
ing Mebalwe, bit his thigh. Another man, whose life 
I had saved before, after he had been tossed by a buf- 
falo, attempted to spear the lion while he was biting 
Mebalwe. He left Mebalwe and caught this man by 
the shoulder, but at that moment the bullets he had 
received took effect, and he fell down dead. The 
whole was the work of a few mom^ntk, and must have 
been his paroxysms of dying rage. In order to take 
out the charm from him, the Bakatla on the following 
day made a huge bonfire over the carcass, which was 
declared to be that of the largest lion they had ever 
seen. Besides crunching the bone into splinters, he 
left eleven teeth wounds on the upper part of my 
arm. 

"A wound from this animal's tooth resembles a 
gun-shot wound ; it is generally followed by a great 
deal of sloughing and discharge, and pains are felt in 
the part periodically ever afterward. I had on a tartan 
jacket on the occasion, and I believe that it wiped off* 
all the virus from the teeth that pierced the flesh, for 
my two companions in this affray have both suffered 
from the peculiar pains, while I have escaped with 
only the inconvenience of a false joint in my limb. 
The man whose shoulder was wounded showed me his 
wound actually burst forth afresh on the same month 
of the following year. This curious point deserves the 
attention of inquirers." 

Livingstone was as successful with the chief Sechele 
as Moffat had been with Africaner. He converted 
him and his family, and acquired so much influence 
with the people, that he persuaded them to settle upon 



46 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

the Kolobeng River, and cultivate the soil. For years 
the colony was visited by a terrible drought, and an- 
noyed by the hostility of the Boers of the Transvaal 
Republic, who were now their near neighbors, and 
who retained their old habits of compelling the natives 
to labor for them without pay. Livingstone's endeav- 
ors to protect the people only brought upon himself 
the jealousy and enmity of the Boers, who finally 
devastated the settlement at Kolobeng and plundered 
his house, during his absence in 1852. 

The projected journey into the Kalihari Desert, 
and the search for the great lake Ngami, accounts of 
which had been received from the natives long before, 
was delayed for some years by these troubles. The 
Bechuanas, also, had a superstitious terror of the desert, 
and it was not easy to induce them to accompany the 
expedition. But early in 1849, two English gentle- 
men, Messrs. Oswell and Murray, offered to join Liv- 
ingstone, and he immediately made preparations for 
the journey. He had married the daughter of Moffat 
some years before, and determined to take his wife 
and children with him. It was a fortunate circum- 
stance, that, while they were preparing, a party of 
natives from the neighborhood of the lake came to 
Kolobeng, with an invitation to Livingstone from 
their chief. 

The party started on the 1st of June, and after 
travelling live or six days towards the Bamangwato 
Mountains, struck off northward into the Kalihari 
Desert. This is not a sandy region, destitute of veg- 
etable and animal life, for it is covered with grass and a 
great variety of creeping plants ; besides which there 



DISCO VER Y OF LAKE NGAMI. 47 

are large patches of bashes, and even trees. It is flat, 
but occasionally crossed by the beds of ancient rivers, 
and the abundant grass supports immense herds of -ante- 
lopes, who require little or no water. The number of 
tuberous-rooted plants is very great, and many varieties 
of them supply both food and drink to the wandering 
tribes. One of these, indicated on the surface only by 
a thin, grass-like blade, has a root;the size of a child's 
head, at the depth of eighteen inches ; the rind is 
filled with a cool, juicy pulp, with a flavor like that of 
a turnip. After rains, great tracts of the desert are 
covered w T ith wild watermelons and scarlet cucumbers, 
some of which are intensely bitter and poisonous, 
while others are entirely sweet and wholesome. 

At a station called Seroti, the travellers were 
obliged to dig trenches in the soil, and wait until they 
slowly filled with water for their oxen, since there 
was a waterless tract, seventy miles in breadth, to be 
crossed. But the soil w T as sandy, and the progress of 
the wagons very slow ; at the end of three days they 
had only made forty-four miles. The horses were sent in 
advance with some natives, but the latter lost their 
way, and rejoined the thirsty caravan. From this state 
of suffering they were relieved by the discovery of a 
pool of rain-water, and soon afterwards reached the 
dry bed of a river named Mokoko. They again lost 
their way, and were guided to a watering-place by a 
lonely Bushwoman whom they found in the desert. 
Beyond this they crossed saline plains, where the mir- 
age constantly cheated them into the belief that they 
had found Lake Ngami, although it was still three 
hundred miles distant. 



48 TRA VELS IN SO UTH AFRICA. 

On the 4th of July they reached the Zouga River, 
which flowed in a north-easterly direction. The natives 
assured them that the water came from the lake. Here 
two men of the Bamangwato tribe, who had accompa- 
nied them, started in advance, up the river, circulating 
reports among the natives that the object of the strang- 
ers was to plunder them. This might have occasioned 
much difficulty, had not one of the men been stricken 
with fever, and soon died. The people connected his 
death in some way with the fact that he was trying 
to injure the strangers, and, although they were armed 
at first, they soon became friendly and confiding. 

" When we had gone up the bank of this beautiful 
river about ninety-six miles from the point where we 
first struck it," says Livingstone, "and understood that 
we were still a considerable distance from the Ngami, 
we left all the oxen and wagons, except Mr. Os well's, 
which was the smallest, and one team, at Ngabisane, in 
the hope that they would be recruited for the home jour- 
ney, while we made a push for the lake. The Bechu- 
ana chief of the Lake region, who had sent men to 
Sechele, now sent orders to all the people on the river 
to assist us, and we were received by the Bakoba, whose 
language clearly shows that they bear an affinity to the 
tribes in the north. They call themselves Bayeiye, 
i. e. y men ; but the Bechuanas call them Bakoba, which 
contains somewhat of the idea of slaves. They have 
never been known to fight, and indeed have a tradi- 
tion that their forefathers, in their first essays at war, 
made their bows of the Palma Christi, and, when these 
broke, they gave up fighting altogether. They have 
invariably submitted to the rule of every horde which 



DISCOVERY OF LAKE NGAMI. 49 

has overrun the countries adjacent to the rivers on 
which they specially love to dwell. They are thus the 
Quakers of the body politic in Africa. 

" The canoes of these inland sailors are truly primi- 
tive craft: they are hollowed out of the trunks of 
single trees by means of iron adzes ; and if the tree 
has a bend, so has the canoe. I liked the frank and 
manly bearing of these men, and, instead of sitting in 
the wagon, preferred a seat in one of the canoes. I 
found they regarded their rude vessels as the Arab 
does his camel. They have always tires in them, and 
prefer sleeping in them while on a journey to spending 
the night on shore. ' On land you have lions,' say 
they, ' serpents, hyaenas, and your enemies ; but in 
your canoe, behind a bank of reed, nothing can harm 
you.' Their submissive disposition leads to their vil- 
lages being frequently visited by hungry strangers. 
We had a pot on the fire in the canoe by the way, and 
when we drew near the villages devoured the contents. 
When fully satisfied ourselves, I found we could all 
look upon any intruders with perfect complacency, and 
show the pot in proof of having devoured the last 
morsel. 

" Twelve days after our departure from the wagons 
at Ngabisane we came to the north-east end of Lake 
Ngami; and on the 1st of August, 1849, we went 
down together to the broad part, and, for the first time, 
this fine looking sheet of water was beheld by Euro- 
peans. The direction of the lake seemed to be N.N.E. 
and S.S.W. by compass. The southern portion is said 
to bend round to the west, and to receive the Teoughe 
from the north at its northwest extremity. We could 
4 



50 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 

detect no horizon where we stood looking S.S.W., nor 
nor could we form any idea of the extent of the lake, 
except from the reports of the inhabitants of the dis- 
trict ; and, as they profess to go round it in three days, 
allowing twenty -five miles a day would make it seventy- 
five, or less than seventy geographical miles in circum- 
ference. Other guesses have been made since as to its 
circumference, ranging between seventy and one hun- 
dred miles. It is shallow, for I subsequently saw a 
native punting his canoe over seven or eight miles of 
the north-east end ; it can never, therefore, be of much 
value as a commercial highway. In fact, during the 
months preceding the annual supply of water from the 
north, the lake is so shallow that it is with difficultv 
cattle can approach the water through the boggy, 
reedy banks. These are low on all sides, but on the 
west there is a space devoid of trees, showing that the 
waters have retired thence at no very ancient date. 
This is another of the proofs of desiccation met with 
so abundantly throughout the whole country. A num- 
ber of dead trees lie on this space, some of them im- 
bedded in the mud, right in the water. We were 
informed by the Bayeiye, who live on the lake, that 
when the annual inundation begins, not only trees of 
great size, but antelopes, are swept down by its rush- 
ing waters ; the trees are gradually driven by the 
the winds to the opposite side, and become imbedded 
in mud. 

" The water of the lake is perfectly fresh when full, 
but brackish when low ; and that coming down the 
Tamunakle we found to be so clear, cold, and 
soft, the higher we ascended, that the idea of melting 



DISCOVERY OF LAKE NGAMI. 51 

snow was suggested to our minds. We found this 
region, with regard to that from which we had come, 
to be clearly a hollow r , the lowest point being Lake 
Kumadau ; the point of the ebullition of w r ater, as 
shown bv one of Newsman's barometric thermometers, 
was only between 207|- and 206°, giving an elevation 
of not much more than two thousand feet above the 
level of the sea. We had descen^l above two thou- 
sand feet in coming to it from Kolobeng. It is the 
southern and lowest part of the great river system be- 
yond, in which large tracts of country are inundated 
annually by tropical rains. 

"My chief object in coming to the lake was to 
visit Sebituane, the great chief of the Makololo, who 
was reported to live some two hundred miles beyond. 
We had now come to a half-tribe of the Bamangwato, 
called Batauana. Their chief was a young man 
named Lechulatebe. Sebituane had conquered his 
father Moremi, and Lechulatebe received part of his 
education while a captive among the Bayeiye. His 
uncle, a sensible man, ransomed him ; and, having col- 
lected a number of families together, abdicated the 
chieftainship in favor of his nephew. As Lechulatebe 
had just come into power, he imagined that the 
proper w T ay of showing his abilities was to act directly 
contrary to everything that his uncle advised. When 
we came, the uncle recommended him to treat us 
handsomely, therefore the hopeful youth presented us 
with a goat only. It ought to have been an ox. So I 
proposed to my companions to loose the animal and 
let him go, as a hint to his master. They, however, did 
not w T ish to insult him. I, being more of a native, 



52 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

and familiar with their customs, knew that this 
shabby present was an insult to us. We washed to 
purchase some goats or oxen ; Lechulatebe offered us 
elephants' tusks. ' No, we cannot eat these ; we want 
something to fill our stomachs.' ' Neither can I; 
but I hear you white men are all very fond of these 
bones, so I offer them ; I want to put the goats into 
my own stomach.' A trader, who accompanied us, 
was then purchasing ivory at the rate of ten good 
large tusks for a musket worth thirteen shillings. 
They were called ' bones;' and I myself saw eight 
instances in which the tusks had been left to rot with 
the other bones where the elephant fell. The Bata- 
uana never had a chance of a market before ; but, in 
less than two years after our discovery, not a man of 
them could be found who was not keenly alive to the 
great value of the article. 

" On the day after our arrival at the lake, I applied 
to Lechulatebe for guides to Sebituane. As he was 
much afraid of that chief, he objected, fearing lest 
other white men should go thither also, and give Seb- 
ituane guns ; whereas, if the traders came to him 
alone, the possession of fire-arms would give him such 
a superiority, that Sebituane would be afraid of him. 
It was in vain to explain that I would inculcate peace 
between them — that Sebituane had been a father to 
him and Sechele, and was as anxious to see me, as he, 
Lechulatebe, had been. He offered to give me as 
much ivory as I needed without going to that chief; 
but when I refused to take any, he unwillingly con- 
sented to give me guides. Next day, however, when 
Oswell and I were prepared to start, with the horses 



DISCOVERY OF LAKE NGAMI. 53 

only, we received a senseless refusal ; and like Sekomi, 
who had thrown obstacles in our way, he sent men to 
Bayeiye with orders to refuse us a passage across the 
river. Trying hard to form a raft at a narrow part, I 
worked many hours in the water ; but the dry wood 
was so worm-eaten that it would not bear the weight 
of a single person. I was not then aware of the num- 
ber of alligators which exist in th^/Zouga, and never 
think of my labor in the water, without feeling thank- 
ful that I escaped their jaws. The season was now far 
advanced ; and as Mr. Oswell, with his wonted gener- 
ous feelings, volunteered, on the spot, to go down to 
the Cape and bring up a boat, we resolved to make our 
way south again." 

The Makololo tribe, of which Livingstone speaks, 
were destined to play a very important part in his later 
explorations. Although disappointed in his first at- 
tempt to visit them, he had at least found a practicable 
way by which the interior of the continent might be 
reached. The discovery of Lake Ngami was received 
in Europe with great interest, and this success encour- 
aged the London Missionary Society to employ Living- 
stone thenceforth in that work of exploration, which 
must, to some extent, precede the labors of the mis- 
sionary. The immense numbers of elephants, also, 
which the travellers found on descending the Zouga 
River, drew the attention of sportsmen and traders to 
this region, and hastened the opening of the entire re- 
gion to the southward and westward of the lake. 

The return journey was accomplished without ac- 
cident, and the party reached Kolobeng towards the 
close of the year 1849. 



CHAPTER V. 

Livingstone's first journey to the zambesi. 

IN April, 1850, Livingstone again left Kolobeng with 
his wife, three children, and the chief Sechele, their 
object being to cross the Zouga at its lower end, follow 
the northern bank until they reached the other river, 
and then ascend the latter until they should find the 
Makololo country. The journey was prosecuted with- 
out much difficulty until, at the confluence of the Zouga 
with the Tamunakle, the appearance of the fly called 
tsetse obliged them to cross the former river in order 
to save their oxen. Here Livingstone learned that a 
party of Englishmen, who had come to the lake in 
search of ivory, were lying ill of fever, and turned 
aside for a time to take care of them. 

The result of the undertaking, w^hich promised so 
favorably, up to the last moment, will be best given 
in Livingstone's own w r ords : "Sechele used all his 
powers of eloquence with Lechulatebe to induce him 
to furnish guides that I might be able to visit Sebi- 
tuane on ox-back, w T hile Mrs. Livingstone and the 
children remained at Lake Ngami. He yielded at 
last. I had a very superior London-made gun, the 
gilt of Lieutenant Arkwright, on which I placed the 
greatest value, both on account of the donor and the 
impossibility of my replacing it. Lechulatebe fell 
violently in love with it, and offered whatever number 



JOURNEY TO THE ZAMBESI. 55 

of elephants' tusks I might ask for it. I, too, was 
enamored with Sebituane ; and as he promised in 
addition that he would furnish Mrs. Livingstone with 
meat all the time of my absence, his arguments made 
me part with the gun. Though he had no ivory at 
the time to pay me, I felt the piece would be w T ell 
spent on those terms, and delivered it to him. All 
being ready for our departure, I top^Mfo. Livingstone 
about six miles from the town, that she might have a 
peep at the broad part of the lake. Next morning we 
had other work to do than part, for our little boy and 
girl were seized with fever. On the day following, all 
our servants were down, too, with the same complaint. 
As nothing is better in these cases than change of 
place, I was forced to give up the hope of seeing 
Sebituane that year ; so, leaving my gun as part pay- 
ment for guides next year, we started for the pure 
air of the Desert. 

" Some mistake had happened in the arrangement 
with Mr. Oswell, for we met him on the Zouga on our 
return, and he devoted the rest of this season to ele- 
phant-hunting, at which the natives universally declare 
he is the greatest adept that ever came into the coun- 
try. He hunted without dogs. It is remarkable that 
this lordly animal is so completely harassed by the 
presence of a few yelping curs, as to be quite incapable 
of attending to man. He makes awkward attempts to 
crush them by falling on his knees ; and sometimes 
places his forehead against a tree ten inches in diam- 
eter ; glancing on one side of the tree and then on the 
other, he pushes it down before him, as if he thought 
thereby to catch his enemies. The only danger the 



56 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

huntsman lias to apprehend is the dogs running to- 
ward him, and thereby leading the elephant to their mas- 
ter. Mr. Oswell has been known to kill four large old 
male elephants a day. The value of the ivory in these 
cases would be one hundred guineas. We had reason 
to be proud of his success, for the inhabitants conceived 
from it a very high idea of English courage ; and when 
they wished to flatter me, would say, 'If you were 
not a missionary you would just be like Oswell ; you 
\vould not hunt with dogs either.' When, in 1852, we 
came to the Cape, my black coat eleven years out of 
fashion, and without a penny of salary to draw, w r e 
found that Mr. Oswell had most generously ordered 
an outfit for the half-naked children, which cost about 
£200, and presented it to us, saying he thought Mrs. 
Livingstone had a right to the game of her own pre- 
serves. 

" Foiled in this second attempt to reach Sebituane, 
we returned again to Kolobeng, whither we were soon 
followed by a number of messengers from that chief 
himself. When he heard of our attempts to visit him, 
he dispatched three detachments of his men with thir- 
teen brown cows to Lechulatebe, thirteen white cows 
to Sekomi, and thirteen black cows to Sechele, with a 
request to each to assist the white men to reach him. 
Their policy, however, w^as to keep him out of view, 
and act as his agents in purchasing with his ivory 
the goods he wanted. This is thoroughly African ; 
and that continent being without friths and arms of 
the sea, the tribes in the centre have always been 
debarred from European intercourse by its universal 
prevalence among all the people around the coasts." 



JOURNEY TO THE ZAMBESI. 57 

Setting out for the third time with his family and 
Mr. Oswell, Livingstone reached the last wells in the 
neighborhood of the Zouga River, and then, instead of 
turning westward towards Lake Ngami, as on the first 
and second journeys, pushed on in a northern course 
towards the Makololo country, guided by a Bushman 
who knew the way. They entered upon a hot, level 
region, studded with glittering dqppsits of salt, where 
all the springs were more or less brackish. After sev- 
eral days of weary travel, they reached a place called 
" The Links " by the natives, where they found a num- 
ber of wells of fresh water. Here there was a settle- 
ment of Bushmen, of taller stature and darker color 
than those of the Kalihari Desert. 

One of these Bushmen, named Shobo, consented 
to be their guide over the unknown waste between 
those springs and the land of Shebituane, the Maka- 
lolo chief. Nevertheless, he informed them that they 
would not reach water again in less than a month. 
Yet by a species of Providence, in a very short time 
they came upon a number of pools of rain-water. " It 
is impossible," says Livingstone, " to convey an idea 
of the dreary scene on which we entered after leaving 
this spot. The only vegetation was a low scrub in 
deep sand ; not a bird or insect enlivened the land- 
scape. It was, without exception, the most uninviting 
prospect I ever beheld ; and, to make matters worse, 
our guide Shobo wandered on the second day. We 
coaxed him on at night, but he went to all points of 
the compass on the trails of elephants which had been 
here in the rainy season, and then would sit down in 
the path, and in his broken Sichuana say, i No water, 



58 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

all country only ; Shobo sleeps ; lie breaks down ; 
country only ; ' and then coolly curl himself up and 
go to sleep. The oxen were terribly fatigued and 
thirsty ; and on the morning of the fourth day, Shobo, 
after professing ignorance of everything, vanished alto- 
gether. "We went on in the direction in which we last 
saw him, and about eleven o'clock began to see birds ; 
then the trail of a rhinoceros. At this we unyoked the 
oxen, and they, apparently knowing the sign, rushed 
along to find the water in the River Mahabe, which 
comes" from the Tamunakle, and lay to the west of us. 
The supply of water in the wagons had been wasted 
by one of our servants, and by the afternoon only a 
small portion remained for the children. This was a 
bitterly anxious night; and next morning the less 
there was of water, the more thirsty the little rogues 
became. The idea of their perishing before our eyes 
was terrible. It would almost have been a relief to me 
to have been reproached with being the entire cause of 
the catastrophe; but not one syllable of upbraiding 
was uttered by their mother, though the tearful eye 
told the agony within. In the afternoon of the fifth 
day, to our inexpressible relief, some of the men re- 
turned with a supply of that fluid of which we had 
never before felt the true value. 

" The cattle, in rushing along to the water in the 
Mahabe, probably crossed a small patch of trees con- 
taining tsetse, an insect which was shortly to become 
a perfect pest to us. Shobo had found his way to the 
Bayeiye, and appeared, when we came up to the river, 
at the head of a party ; and, as he wished to show his 
importance before his friends, he walked up boldly and 



JOURNEY TO THE ZAMBESI. 59 

commanded our whole calvalcade to stop, and to bring 
forth fire and tobacco, while he coolly sat down and 
smoked his pipe. It was such an inimitably natural 
way of showing off, that we all stopped to admire the 
acting, and, though he had left us previously in the 
lurch, we all liked Shobo, a fine specimen of that won- 
derful people, the Bushmen." 

The next day they came to tlje village of a new 
tribe, called the Banajoa. Their huts were built on 
poles, and fires w^ere kindled under them during the 
night, to drive away the musquitos which abound in 
the country. But a more dangerous scourge was the 
tsetse, which now began to attack their cattle. It is 
thus described : " It is not much larger than the common 
house-fly, and is nearly of the same brown color as the 
common honey-bee ; the after part of the body has 
three or four yellow bars across it ; the wings project 
beyond this part considerably, and it is remarkably 
alert, avoiding most dextrously all attempts to capture 
it with the hand at common temperatures ; in the cool 
of the mornings and evenings it is less agile. Its pe- 
culiar buzz when once heard can never be forgotten by 
the traveller whose means of locomotion are domestic 
animals ; for it is well known that the bite of this poi- 
sonous insect is certain death to the ox, horse, and dog. 
In this journey, though we were not aware of any 
great number having at any time lighted on our cattle, 
we lost forty-three fine oxen by its bite. We watched 
the animals carefully, and believe that not a score of 
flies were ever upon them. 

" A most remarkable feature in the bite of the tsetse 
is its perfect harmlessness in man and wild animals, 



60 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

and even calves, so long as they continue to suck the 
cows. We never experienced the slightest injury from 
them ourselves, personally, although we lived two 
months in their habitat, which was in this case as 
sharply defined as in many others, for the south bank of 
the Chobe was infested by them, and the northern bank, 
where our cattle were placed, only fifty yards distant, 
contained not a single specimen. This was the more 
remarkable, as we often saw natives carcying over raw 
meat to the opposite bank with many tsetse settled 
upon it. 

" The mule, ass, and goat enjoy the same immunity 
from the tsetse as man and the game. Many large 
tribes on the Zambesi can keep no domestic ani- 
mals except the goat, in consequence of the scourge 
existing in their country. Our children were fre- 
quently bitten, yet suffered no harm ; and we saw 
around us numbers of zebras, buffaloes, pigs, pallahs, 
and other antelopes, feeding quietly in the very habitat 
of the tsetse, yet as undisturbed by its bite as oxen are 
when they first receive the fatal poison. There is not 
so much difference in the natures of the horse and ze- 
bra, the buffalo and ox, the sheep and antelope, as to 
afford any satisfactory explanation of the phenomenon. 
Is a man not as much a domestic animal as a dog ? 
The curious feature in the case, that dogs perish though 
fed on milk, whereas the calves escape so long as they 
continue sucking, made us imagine that the mischief 
might be produced by some plant in the locality, and 
not by tsetse; but Major Vardon, of the Madras 
Army, settled that point by riding a horse up to a 
small hill infested by the insect without allowing him 



JOURNEY TO THE ZAMBESI. §\ 

time to graze, and though he only remained long 
enough to take a view of the country, yet in ten days 
afterwards the horse w r as dead." 

Crossing a marshy country to the Chobe, a large 
branch of the Zambesi River, the travellers at last met 
the Makololo, by whom they w r ere well received. 
The chief, Sebituane, was about twenty miles further 
down the river, and Livingstone ajyl Oswell proceeded 
in canoes to his residence. He had come one hun- 
dred miles southward from his capital, to meet the 
first white men who had ever reached his country. 
" He was upon an island," says Livingstone, " with all 
his principal men around him, and engaged in singing 
when we arrived. It was more like church music 
than the sing-song e e e, se 8e 8e, of the Bechuanas of 
the south, and they continued the tune for some sec- 
onds after we approached. We informed him of the 
difficulties we had encountered, and how glad we were 
that they were all at an end by at last reaching his 
presence. He signified his own joy, and added, 
* Your cattle are all bitten by the tsetse, and will cer- 
tainly die ; but never mind, I have oxen, and will 
give you as many as you need.' We, in our ignor- 
ance, then thought that as so few tsetse had bitten 
them no great mischief would follow. He then pre- 
sented us with an ox and a jar of honey as food, and 
handed us over to the care of Mahale, who had headed 
the party to Kolobeng, and would now fain appropri- 
ate to himself the whole credit of our coming. Pre- 
pared skins of oxen, as soft as cloth, were given to 
cover us through the night ; and, as nothing could be 
returned to this chief, Mahale became the owner of 



62 TEA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

them. Long before it was day Sebituane came, and 
sitting down by the fire, which was lighted for our 
benefit behind the hedge where we lay, he narrated 
the difficulties he had himself experienced, when a 
young man, in crossing that same desert which we had 
mastered long afterward. As he has been most re- 
markable in his career, and was unquestionably the 
greatest man in all that country, a short sketch of his 
life may prove interesting to the reader. 

" Sebituane was about forty-five years of age ; of a 
tall and wiry form, an olive or eoffee-and-milk color, 
and slightly bald ; in manner cool and collected, and 
more frank in his answers than any other chief I ever 
met. He was the greatest warrior ever heard of be- 
yond the colony; for, unlike Mosilikatse, Dingaan, 
and others, he always led his men into battle himself. 
When he saw the enemy, he felt the edge of his battle- 
axe, and said, ' Aha ! it is sharp, and whoever turns 
his back on the enemy will feel its edge.' So fleet of 
foot was he, that all his people knew there was no es- 
cape for the coward, as any such would be cut down 
without mercy. In some instances of skulking he al- 
lowed the individual to return home; then calling 
him, he would say, ' Ah ! you prefer dying at home 
to dying in the field, do you ? You shall have your 
desire.' This was the signal for his immediate 
execution." 

This famous chief came from a tribe much further 
to the south, and had conquered his kingdom by his 
own courage and energy. Thirty years before, he had 
fought the Griquas at Kuruman ; and many years of 
wandering, of fighting, of danger and poverty had in- 



JOURNEY TO THE ZAMBESI. (53 

tervened, before he established his sovereignty on the 
Zambesi. His wars with the chief Mosilikatse com- 
pletely broke up the latter's power throughout the 
central region, and thus opened the way to explorers. 
He knew of the commerce carried on with white men 
on the eastern and western coasts of the continent, and 
appears to have made several attempts to establish in- 
tercourse with them, before sendigg 7 the invitation to 
Livingstone. 

Unfortunately the end of his adventurous career 
was near at hand. " He was much pleased," says Liv- 
ingstone, " with the proof of confidence we had shown 
in bringing our children, and promised to take us to 
see his country, so that we might choose a part in 
which to locate ourselves. Our plan was, that I should 
remain in the pursuit of my objects as a missionary, 
while Mr. Oswell explored the Zambesi to the east. 
Poor Sebituane, however, just after realizing what he 
had so long ardently desired, fell sick of inflammation 
of the lungs, which originated in and extended from an 
old wound got at Melita. I saw his danger, but, being 
a stranger, I feared to treat him medically, lest, in the 
event of his death, I should be blamed by his people. 
I mentioned this to one of his doctors, who said, ' Your 
fear is prudent and wise; this people would blame 
you.' He had been cured of this complaint, during 
the year before, by the Barotse making a large number 
of free incisions in the chest. The Makololo doctors, 
on the other hand, now scarcely cut the skin. On the 
Sunday afternoon in which he died, when our usual 
religious service was over, I visited him with my little 
boy Robert. ' Come near,' said Sebituane, ' and see if 



61 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

I am any longer a man. I am done.' He was thus 
sensible of the dangerous nature of his disease, so I ven- 
tured to assent, and added a single sentence regarding 
hope after death. ' Why do you speak of death % ' said 
one of a relay of fresh doctors ; ' Sebituane will never 
die.' If I had persisted, the impression would have 
been produced that by speaking about it I wished him 
to die. After sitting with him some time, and com- 
mending him to the mercy of God, I rose to depart, 
when the dying chieftain, raising himself up a little 
from his prone position, called a servant, and said, 
< Take Robert to Manku (one of his wdves), and tell 
her to give him some milk.' These were the last 
words of Sebituane. 

" We were not informed of his death until the next 
day. The burial of a Bechuana chief takes place in his 
cattle-pen, and all the cattle are driven for an hour or 
two around and over the grave, so that it may be quite 
obliterated. We went and spoke to the people, advis- 
ing them to keep together and support the heir. 
They took this kindly ; and in turn told us not to be 
alarmed, for they would not think of ascribing the death 
of their chief to us ; that Sebituane had just gone the 
way of his fathers ; and though the father had gone, he 
had left children, and they hoped that we would be as 
friendly to his children as we intended to have been to 
himself. 

" He was decidedly the best specimen of a native 
chief I ever met. I never felt so much grieved by the 
loss of a black man before ; and it was impossible not 
to follow him in thought into the world of which he 
had just heard before he was called away, and to 



JOURNEY TO THE ZAMBESI. (55 

realize somewhat of the feelings of those who pray 
for the dead. The deep, dark question of what is to 
become of such as he, must, how T ever, be left where 
w r e find it, believing that, assuredly, the ' Judge of all 
the earth will do right.' 

" At Sebituane's death the chieftainship devolved, 
as her father intended, on a daughter named Ma-moch- 
isane. He had promised to show^j^ his country and 
to select a suitable locality for our residence. We had 
now to look to the daughter, who was living tw T elve 
days to the north, at Naliele. We w T ere obliged, 
therefore, to remain until a message came from her ; 
and when it did, she gave us perfect liberty to visit 
any part of the country w r e chose. Mr. Oswell and I 
then proceeded one hundred and thirty miles to the 
north-east, to Sesheke ; and in the end of June, 1851, 
we were rewarded by the discovery of the Zambesi, in 
the centre of the continent. This was a most impor- 
tant point, for that river was not previously known to 
exist there at all. The Portuguese maps all represent it 
as rising far to the east of where we now were ; and if 
every anything like a chain of trading stations had 
existed across the country between the latitudes 12° 
and 18° south, this magnificent portion of the river 
must have been known before. We saw it at the end of 
the dry season, at the time when the river is about at 
its lowest, and yet there w r as a breadth of from three hun- 
dred to six hundred yards of deep flowing water. Mr. 
Oswell said he had never seen such a fine river, even 
in India. At the period of its annual inundation it rises 
fully twenty feet in perpendicular height, and floods 
fifteen or twenty miles of lands adjacent to its banks. 



66 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

" The country over which we had travelled from 
the Chobe was perfectly flat, except where there were 
large ant-hills, or the remains of former ones, which 
had left mounds a few teet high. These are generally 
covered with wild date-trees and palmyras, and in some 
parts there are forests of mimosse and mopane. Occa- 
sionally the country between the Chobe and Zambesi 
is flooded, and there are large patches of swamps lying 
near the Chobe, or on its banks. The Makololo were 
living among these swamps for the sake of the pro- 
tection the deep reedy rivers afforded them against 
their enemies. 

" As we were the very first white men the inhabi- 
tants had ever seen, we were visited by prodigious 
numbers. Among the first who came to see us was a 
gentleman who appeared in a gaudy dressing-gown of 
printed calico. Many of the Makololo, besides, had 
garments, of blue, green, and red baize, and also of 
printed cottons ; on inquiry, we learned that these had 
been purchased, in exchange for boys, from a tribe 
called Mambari, which is situated near Bihe." 

Livingstone gives no account of the return journey, 
and we only know that it was performed without ac- 
cident, though probably not without much privation. 
As there was then no hope of the Boers allowing the 
peaceable instruction of the natives at Kolobeng, he 
resolved to send his family to England, and to return 
alone to the Makololo country, with a view to explore it 
in search of a healthy district that might prove a fu- 
ture centre of civilization, and open up the interior by 
a path to either the east or west coast. This plan led 
him to the Cape in April, 1852, being the first time dur- 



JOURNEY TO THE ZAMBESI. (57 

ing eleven years that he had visited civilization. " Our 
route to Capetown," he says, " led us to pass through 
the centre of the colony during the twentieth month 
of a Kaffer war ; and if those who periodically pay 
enormous sums for these inglorious affairs wish to know 
how our little unprotected party could quietly travel 
through the heart of the colony to the capital with as 
little sense or sign of danger as if wb had been in Eng- 
land, they must engage a ' Times Special Correspond- 
ent' for the next outbreak to explain where the 
money goes, and who have been benefited by the blood 
and treasure expended. 

" Having placed my family on board a homeward- 
bound ship, and promised to rejoin them in two years, 
we parted, for, as it subsequently proved, nearly five 
years. The Directors of the London Missionary So- 
ciety signified their cordial approval of my project by 
leaving the matter entirely to my own discretion ; and 
I have much pleasure in acknowledging my obliga- 
tions to the gentlemen composing that body for always 
acting in an enlightened spirit, and with as much liber- 
ality as their constitution would allow." 



CHAPTER VI. 

Anderson's journey to the ovampo land and 

lake ngami. 

BEFORE following Livingstone on his great jour- 
ney of four years into and across South Africa 
from sea to sea, let us turn to other explorations of the 
regions below the parallel of Lake Ngami, which have 
almost completed our knowledge of the geography of 
that part of the continent. Some important informa- 
tion has also been contributed by Gordon Oumming, 
Baldwin, and other professional sportsmen ; but their 
object was game and not discovery, and the explora- 
tions they made were only incidental and fragmentary. 
Livingstone's visit to Lake Ngami, and his report 
of the immense herds of elephants on the Zouga River, 
created much excitement throughout the Cape Colony. 
Among others who determined to follow in his tracks 
was the Swedish naturalist Anderson, who had come 
to South Africa to prosecute his scientific studies. In 
company with an Englishman, named Galton, he fitted 
out a small expedition, intending to take the direct 
route to the lake, through the interior ; but the break- 
ing out of hostilities between the Boers and the 
native tribes compelled them to give up this plan. 
They returned to the coast and made their way to 
Whale Bay, a port in lat. 22° S., whence the actual 
distance to the lake was not greater than from Kuril- 



THE OVAMPO LAND AND LAKE NGAML 69 

man, but the intervening territory was almost wholly- 
unknown. 

The Namaqua Hottentots inhabit the territory 
bordering the ocean, and several German missionary 
stations — those of Rehoboth and New-Barmen being 
the chief — have been established among them, but 
without much effect upon the habits of the people. 
So long as the latter receive foocLand clothing from 
the missionaries, they gather about them and listen to 
their instruction ; but when the gifts cease, they turn 
their backs in indifference, or insult their benefactors. 
The success of the missions has further been somewhat 
jeopardized by the forays which the Namaquas have 
made, in late years, into the land of the Damaras, 
who inhabited the region to the north. These Dam- 
aras are a comparatively fine-looking race of men : 
they are nomads, and wander about with enormous 
herds of cattle, leaving the country bare behind them 
wherever they go. They appear to have come from 
the eastward, driving the aboriginal tribes, who were 
probably Hottentots, into the mountains, where a 
small remnant of them still exists. 

The Damaras are tall, strong and symmetrically 
formed. They are well armed with the assagay (a sort 
of lance), bow and arrow, and club ; but their inclina- 
tions are peaceful, and their faces have a gentle expres- 
sion. They resemble the other native tribes in their 
scanty clothing, in the habit of smearing their bodies 
with fat, and in the fondness of , the women for a bur- 
den of rings, plates and other metallic ornaments. The 
men wind their strips of leather, sometimes several hun- 
dred feet in length, around their loins, and carry their 



70 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

clubs and pipes therein. They are so skilful in throw- 
ing the kerri, a stick with a knob on one end, that they 
will even bring down birds on the wing. 

The missionaries, thus far, have accomplished very 
little towards civilizing the Damaras. When they first 
settled themselves in the country, the latter quietly 
withdrew with their herds, and left the strangers to pro- 
cure their food as they best could. The idea of a pure 
human interest being incomprehensible to them, they 
suspected some hostile intention, and at first debated 
whether they should not exterminate them. In the 
course of time they became more friendly, but to this 
day a Damara in good circumstances keeps aloof from 
the teaching of the missionaries ; while the poorer peo- 
ple, who support themselves chiefly by cultivating to- 
bacco, are learning to understand the advantage of set- 
tling in the neighborhood of the mission stations. 

When Anderson and Galton landed at Whale Bay, 
they had no definite plan of travel. After reaching 
Barmen, however, they heard of a great lake of fresh 
water, called " Omanbonde," lying some distance to the 
northward. The region was entirely unknown, and the 
Damaras who inhabited it were represented to them by 
the natives as fierce, unfriendly and treacherous. Nev- 
ertheless they undertook the journey, and after several 
weeks of slow progress, encountering the usual dangers, 
difficulties and delays, reached the famed lake, which 
the natives had described to them as being u as large as 
the sky." But their disappointment was great, at find- 
ing only a great reedy marsh, without any water! 
There were indications-, it is true, that a lake of consid- 
erable extent had formerly existed there ; but in drying 



THE OVAMPO LAND AND LAKE NGAMI. >J\ 

it had banished the herds of elephants and other wild 
beasts which they had hoped to find. 

Having penetrated so far, however, the travellers 
determined to go on. They had heard of a people still 
further to the north, who had permanent habitations, 
who cultivated the soil, and were industrious, peaceful 
and hospitable. They were called the Ovampo (or 
Ovambo), which denoted agriculturists, and carried on 
a trade with the Damaras, giving them in exchange 
for cattle implements of iron. They were said to be 
very numerous, and to be governed by a king who 
was of gigantic stature. In regard to the distance of 
the country, and the character of the region to be trav- 
ersed in order to reach it, the Damaras could only give 
very uncertain and fabulous accounts. Although it 
seemed probable that the journey would occupy sev- 
eral months, Anderson decided to make the venture, 
and left the unfortunate Lake Omanbonde behind him. 
There was no longer any desert, at least; the road 
must be forced through high grass, thickets, and occa- 
sional forests. Water was found in abundance, and 
there was so much game that the party never lacked 
food. In a few days after leaving the lake, they were 
surprised to find groves of fan-palm covering the 
landscapes. 

They had barely reached the last settlement of the 
Damaras when the axle of their large wagon broke, 
and there were no means of mending it. Therefore 
they determined to leave the vehicles, and push on by 
means of pack and saddle oxen. But the native chief 
not only refused to furnish them with a guide, he 
would give them no information whatever, and all they 



72 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

could extort from him was the promise that they 
might- join a caravan which was expected from the 
Ovampo land. Fortunately, this caravan soon arrived : 
it consisted of twenty-three tall, strong, very dark-col- 
ored men, of serious demeanor, and of a type very dif- 
ferent from that of the Damaras. They brought lance- 
heads, knives, rings, and beads of copper and iron — 
all their own workmanship — whicli they sold dearly 
enough ; as, for instance, a lance-head for an ox. 

The Ovampos agreed that the strangers might 
accompany them back to their country, and when the 
caravan was ready to start it numbered 170 persons, 
for many Damaras — among them seventy or eighty 
girls — decided to join it. The Ovampos had collected 
a fine herd of cattle by their trading, and they declared 
that fourteen long days' journeys would bring them to 
their own country. The pleasant scenery soon disap- 
peared ; thorny thickets and dreary plains followed ; 
the watering-places were few and far apart, and the 
travellers now recognized how difficult it would have 
been to cross such a region without a skilful guide. 
Here, as elsewhere, they encountered parties of the 
wild Bushmen, and they noticed with pleasure that 
these outcasts, so despised by all other tribes, were 
kindly treated by the Ovampos. 

After a journey of eight days, the caravan reached 
the first pasture-lands of the tribe, and there rested for 
a few days. The welcome of the country, which they 
received, consisted in having their faces thickly smeared 
with butter. Messengers were sent in advance to an 
nounce the coming of the strangers to the king, Nan- 
garo, and then the travel was resumed, — at first across 



THE OVAMPO LAND AND LAKE NGAML 73 

great salt-pans, surrounded with a girdle of forests, and 
afterwards over boundless, grassy savannas. So m ucli 
the more agreeable was the surprise of Anderson and 
Galton, when they saw before them the fertile, well- 
cultivated fields of Ondonga, the central part of the 
Ovampo land. Instead of the never-ending thickets 
and sandy tracts, they beheld immense fields of grain, 
dotted over with peaceful dwelling, isolated forest or 
fruit trees, and groves of palm. It seemed to them 
like a veritable paradise, and these attractive features 
multiplied as they advanced. 

There were no villages ; each family has its own 
patriarchal home, in the midst of the fields it cultivates. 
The houses are surrounded with strong palisades, for 
even these peaceable farmers have hostile neighbors, 
and are sometimes compelled to defend their posses- 
sions. Their grain is lentils and millet, which grow to 
the height of eight or nine feet. At harvest they sim- 
ply cut off the ripe heads, and then turn their cattle 
into the fields to devour the straw. They have exten- 
sive pasture-grounds at some distance from the culti- 
vated region, and are said to raise a breed of pigs of 
an enormous size. The travellers were unable to as- 
certain the exact extent of the country, or the number 
of the inhabitants. 

On the second day they reached the residence of 
the terrible Nangaro, but without being admitted : a 
group of trees, near at hand, was pointed out to them 
as the place where they should wait. This is the cus- 
tom of African as of European courts, and in their 
case it lasted three days. Finally, they were taken be- 
fore his Majesty, whom they found to be a giant, truly, 



74 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

but only in a horizontal direction. He was an exceed- 
ingly thick, ugly man, yet every inch a king in the 
eyes of his subjects, with whom corpulency was a 
royal attribute, and all the more to be admired, since 
it would have been unpardonable in themselves. The 
only answer which the stout king made to the brilliant 
address of the travellers was, that he now and then 
gave a grunt of assent or dissent, as the case might be. 
Neither the king nor his people had a correct 
knowledge of fire-arms. They imagined that if one 
should blow into the barrel, the weapon could do no 
harm. The effect of a rifle, loaded with conical ball, 
so startled them that many fell flat upon their faces at 
each shot. The king presently demanded that they 
should shoot for him one of the elephants which occa- 
sionally devastated his fields. Anderson refused, from 
the suspicion that the king would not only keep the 
ivory for himself, but possibly retain them in the coun- 
try as long as there w r ere any elephants to shoot. Nev- 
ertheless, they were very kindly and hospitably treated. 
The king furnished them with food, and a kind of beer, 
and every evening there was a native ball, where the 
young people danced to the sound of tom-toms and a 
sort of guitar. The girls, when young, have coarse but 
not disagreeable features, but afterwards become heavy 
and muscular, partly from carrying so many heavy metal 
rings on their arms and legs, and partly, in consequence 
of their unremitting labor. Both sexes work in the 
fields from sunrise until sunset. The women increase 
the circumference of their woolly locks by stiffening 
them with a mixture of fat and red ochre, w 7 ith which 
they also plaster their bodies. 



THE OVAMPO LAND AND LAKE NGAML. 75 

The principal food of the Ovampo is a kind of 
coarse meal porridge, which is always served hot, with 
butter or sour milk. Although they are also very 
fond of a flesh diet, and their herds are large, yet they 
slaughter cattle but sparingly, and appear to keep their 
herds rather for pleasure than use or profit. Inside of 
their stockades they have a number of detached build- 
ings, — dwellings for owners and servants, stables, gran- 
aries, and pens for pigs and fowls. The houses are 
tent-shaped, circular, and not more than six feet in 
height ; the granaries are huge baskets of woven palm- 
leaves, each sheltered by a conical roof. 

A good characteristic of the Ovampo, which dis- 
tinguishes them above all other African tribes, is, that 
they not only do not steal, but they consider theft a 
crime worthy of being punished by death. While the 
travellers with all their watchfulness could not prevent 
the Damaras from plundering them, here they could 
leave their possessions unguarded, knowing that not 
the slightest article would be taken. The king has the 
sole power of punishment, and order is preserved 
throughout the land by persons whom he appoints, and 
who report to him all crimes and disputes. Moreover, 
the Ovampo take excellent care of all sick, crippled or 
superannuated persons, instead of driving them into 
the jungle to perish, like the Damaras. 

They are passionately attached to their country, and 
are very proud of its advantages. It is an offence to 
them when a stranger inquires the number of their 
chiefs, and they answer: " We acknowledge but one 
king; among the Damaras each one thinks he is a 
chief, as soon as he owns a few cows." Fugitives from 



76 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 

other tribes are accepted, and allowed to marry among 
them, but afterwards they are compelled to remain in 
the land. Polygamy prevails among them, as else- 
where in South Africa : each man is allowed to take 
as many wives as he is able to buy. One of small 
means can get a w^ife for two oxen and a cow, while 
those who are wealthier must pay a higher price. The 
king, alone, is not obliged to buy his wives, the honor 
of being connected with him being considered a full 
equivalent. The stout Nangaro had already collected 
106 spouses from the various quarters of his realm. 

After the travellers had spent several weeks in the 
Ovampo land, they prepared to continue their journey. 
They were told that only four days to the north there 
was a large beautiful river, with inhabited shores. 
[This was certainly the Kunene, a river which has 
since been partly explored. It flows into the sea 
near Great Fish Bay, on the southern border of Ben- 
guela.] But the king positively refused to permit them 
to visit it, saying that they had refused to shoot an 
elephant for him, and therefore he would not favor 
their plans. They then decided to return southward, 
and with all the more speed, since they were uncertain 
how the wagons and cattle they had left behind had 
fared among the Damaras. The journey to the mis- 
sion-station at Barmen occupied six weeks, and was 
accompanied with many privations, since it was winter, 
the nights were cold, water and pasture dried up, and 
game very scarce. 

Anderson now returned to his original design of 
reaching Lake Ngami. Still accompanied by Galton, 
he set out, and after encountering many difficulties and 



/ 



THE OVAMPO LAND AND LAKE NGAMI. 77 

embarrassments, at the end of five months reached a 
point called Tunobis, about two hundred miles from the 
lake. This is a watering-place surrounded with forests, 
where a few Bushmen hide, and where great quan- 
tities of elephants and other beasts collect. It was a 
pleasant spot in the wilderness ; but the party had suf- 
fered intensely from heat and thirst, and the fatigues 
of the journey ; the oxen were worn to skeletons, and 
the Bushmen assured Anderson that a thorny desert 
lay before him where no water could be found for sev- 
eral days. So much time had been lost in forcing 
their way to this point, that the prospect ahead decided 
them to turn about and retrace their weary steps. 

Mr. Galton was by this time quite satisfied with 
African exploration, and, on reaching Whale Bay, 
took passage for England. Anderson remained to 
make another attempt, after the rainy season was over ; 
and, in order to supply himself with materials for bar- 
ter with the natives, bought a herd of cattle and drove 
them down the coast to Capetown. The speculation 
was tolerably successful: he procured the necessary 
supplies, sailed to Whale Bay, organized his caravan, 
and struck into the desert. 

By the time he reached Tunobis, his turning-point 
the former year, his party was in a very dilapidated 
condition. The men had suffered greatly from hun- 
ger, on account of the unexpected scarcity of game, 
and it now seemed as hazardous to return as to go on- 
wards. The natives declared that the direct way to 
the lake was through a desolate, waterless wilderness, 
and quite impassable ; but that if he would travel a 
few days to the eastward, following a dry river-bed 



ATO 



78 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

called Otjambinde, and then turn to the left, he might 
succeed. 

It was only by making the greatest exertions that 
Anderson could induce both men and beasts to go 
further. The latter were as obstinate as the former ; 
he was obliged to take both in hand, drill them anew, 
and compel them to his authority. Setting out about 
the middle of June, they followed the empty river-bed, 
plodding over wastes of glaring white sand. Here 
and there, however, they found grass and luxuriant 
vegetation, and little slimy pools of rain-water, some- 
times swarming with reptiles, or turned into liquid 
mud by the feet of elephants. They found, also, a 
number of ancient and skilfully-constructed wells, some 
of w T hich were damp at the bottom, and, by thrusting 
a reed into the soil, in the manner of the Bushmen, 
they could suck up moisture enough to allay their 
thirst. These wells indicated that the now desolate 
region had been formerly inhabited by a race civilized 
enough to secure themselves a constant supply of 
water. 

After several days of this travel, it was time to 
leave the old river-bed and strike out northward on 
the dry and stony plains. Anderson had already sent 
out messengers in advance, to announce his coming to 
the chief, Lechulatebe, whom Livingstone had found 
on the borders of Lake Ngami. A few days after- 
wards, in the desert, a troop of Bechuanas suddenly 
appeared ; it was the escort which the chief had sent 
to meet them. The stately appearance of the men, 
with their shields and assagays, made a favorable im- 
pression upon Anderson, who found that they resem- 



THE OVAMPO LAND AND LAKE NGAML. 79 

bled the Damaras. The two tribes, in fact, were not 
strangers; for the Damaras had formerly penetrated 
as far as the lake, and had often come into collision 
with the Bechuanas. With these new guides, the 
caravan toiled forwards, making directly for the lake, 
through deep sands, and thickets of the thorny acacia, 
with here and there a giant tree. In spite of the 
wild and wooded character of the^egion, there were 
rich pastures, and old wells gave evidence that it had 
once had permanent inhabitants. Yet a few days 
more, and the cry " Ngami ! " was heard at the head 
of the caravan. Anderson had at last reached the 
goal of so much toil and privation : a beautiful, ap- 
parently boundless, expanse of water spread out before 
him. Although sick, and almost a cripple from his 
encounters with rhinoceros and elephant, he forgot all 
his sufferings at this view. But as he drew near, and 
their route skirted the shores, the reality proved to be 
less pleasant. The water was bitter and disagreeable, 
and could only be reached at a few points, the mud 
and reeds elsewhere barring all approach to it. 

The chief, whose residence was at that time on the 
banks of the Zuoga, refused, at first, to allow Anderson 
to pass through his land. After a few days, however, 
he suddenly furnished canoes and boatmen for a voy- 
age on the lake. He was so unexpectedly willing that 
Anderson immediately suspected some covert design, 
and the result proved that he was right. The boatmen 
were quite skilful in the use of poles and oars, but did 
not venture far from the shore, and it was two days 
b3fore they reached the mouth of the Tioge Eiver, at 
the northern extremity of the lake. 



80 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 

The animal life around Lake Ngami is wonderfully 
rich and varied. The elephant, rhinoceros, hippopota- 
mus, buffalo and giraffe have their settlements, with 
many kinds of antelopes, of w T hich Anderson shot so 
many that his native envoy was soon increased by vol- 
unteers to the number of sixty or seventy. The water 
swarmed with crocodiles, some of which were of enor- 
mous size. The first part of the voyage up the Tioge 
was very monotonous. The river had overflowed its 
banks in many places, and nothing was to be seen but 
wide marshes, out of which rose groups of palm-trees. 
On the fourth day, the landscape changed ; the river- 
banks were higher, and covered with the richest 
growth of trees — palms, mimosas, sycamores, and many 
entirely new varieties, some of which bore delicious 
fruits. The scenery was so charming that Anderson 
would have willingly lingered there for days, but he 
well knew the danger of breathing that fever-laden 
atmosphere, and hastened onward. 

After a voyage of twelve days he reached a large 
village, the residence of the principal chief of the Bay- 
eiye tribe, which is subject to the chief Lechulatebe, on 
Lake Ngami. It w r as a most picturesque spot : on an 
island in the river, more than a hundred houses were 
grouped in the shade of large fan-palms, while on either 
side the water spread out like a lake. Here, however, 
the natives who accompanied him declared that their 
chief had given orders that he should have no further 
boats or guides. It was not until he declared that he 
w r as ready to return, that they assisted him in any way. 
His object had been to follow the river to a place 
called Libebe, the capital of an agricultural tribe called 



THE OVAMPO LAND AND LAKE NGAML 81 

Bavieko, of which he had heard many interesting 
reports. 

In his annoyance at the disappointment, Anderson 
supposed that the raft which was given to him for his 
return down the Tioge, instead of the boats, was in- 
tended as an insult. But he soon found that it was an 
agreeable mode of transportation. The rafts are made 
of palm-leaves, or reeds, laid crogs^ise, and not even 
bound together ; the traveller's weight prevents them 
from separating. The descent of the river occupied 
nine days, and after an absence of four weeks Anderson 
returned to his encampment beside the lake, where he 
found everything in good order, except that his people 
complained bitterly of the thievishness of the Bechuanas 
and the meddlesomeness of the chief. 

In order to convey to Capetown his collection of 
objects of natural history, and the ivory which he had 
procured by barter and the chase, it was necessary to 
have a wagon. Anderson thereupon travelled across 
the wilderness to the Namaqua land, and returned to 
the lake, in the space of four months. He travelled on 
foot, on horse-back or ox-back, sometimes entirely alone, 
sometimes with a single companion. Hunger and thirst 
were more dangerous enemies to him than the lion or 
the hyena. On one occasion he was without food for 
two days, and could only drink once in twenty-four 
hours. His indomitable energy and great powers of 
endurance enabled him to overcome all impediments, 
and successfully bring back his spoils. 

6 



CHAPTER VII. 

Anderson's journey to the okavango river. 

IN 1856, three or four years after Anderson's at- 
tempt to reach the town called Libebe, on the 
Tioge River, the journey was successfully made by 
Mr. Green, the celebrated elephant-hunter. He over- 
came many difficulties in penetrating to that point, 
and was not able to remain long enough to make any 
important observations. His account of the beauty of 
the scenery and the luxuriance of the vegetation along 
the Tioge corresponds with that given by Anderson. 

The reports of the Kunene River, brought back 
from the Ovampo land, had in the meantime led to 
several unsuccessful attempts to reach it. The Portu- 
guese in Benguela, recognizing the value of this river 
to their inland trade, if it should prove to be naviga- 
ble, sent vessels along the coast, which failed to dis- 
cover its mouth ; but an expedition by land finally suc- 
ceeded. The region where the river reaches the sea 
proved to be a sandy desert, and the mouth is cut off 
from navigation by a long sand-bank. Advancing in- 
land, the Portuguese found that the stream was narrow 
and broken by cataracts, whereupon they gave up all 
further exploration. 

In May, 1857, the German missionaries, Hahn and 
Rath set out from New-Barwen, well provided with 
wagons, oxen and sheep, with the intention of passing 



THE OKA VANGO RIVER. 83 

through the Ovampo land to the Kunene. In ten days 
they reached a vast shallow plain, with no distinct 
water-courses. It seemed to be a basin where the 
rains collected, without any channel of discharge. 
The soil was covered with high grass, out of which 
rose the black trunks of mimosa trees. It was a mel- 
ancholy region, where the only path^ were those made 
by elephants, and where the ant-hills were frequently 
40 feet in diameter and 15 in height. The former 
population had been almost entirely exterminated by 
the forays of the Demaras, and only a few were found, 
living in hidden nooks, and reduced almost to the con- 
dition of Bushmen. 

After passing lat. 20°, early in June, the travellers 
found the fan-palm, at first as a bush, but soon as a 
splendid tree, 50 feet high. Near a river called Omur- 
amba they found herds of elephants, and here fell in 
with Mr. Green, who joined their party. The jour- 
ney beyond was rendered difficult by the increasing 
density of the forests, through which they were often 
obliged to hew a way for the wagons. The line of 
their course led to the eastward of the Ovampo coun- 
try, but early in July their negro guides represented 
that a waterless desert was before them, and it would 
be impossible to reach the Kunene without turning 
westward. Ten days after changing their direction, 
they came suddenly upon a beautiful lake, nearly thir- 
ty miles in circumference, called by the natives Onan- 
dova. Here they met with many of the Ovampo, 
who were returning from a neighboring mountain- 
range, laden with copper ore which they had mined 
there. 



84 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 

The missionaries bad sent messengers to the king 
Nangaro, at Odongo, to announce their approacli ; but 
they now learned that the men had been guided, 
instead, to the king's younger brother, Chipanga, who 
had risen in rebellion against him, and established an 
independent sovereignty of his own. This was an 
unfortunate mistake, and led them to expect an un- 
friendly reception from Nangaro. 

On the 22d of July they issued from the jungles, 
and saw before them the broad plain of Odongo, 
which seems to have made a very different impression 
on them from that recorded by Anderson and Galton. 
" We saw," they write, " some heaps of black twigs 
and reeds, perhaps four feet high, and some high 
poles planted in the soil, the use of which we could 
not discover. We asked for houses, and they pointed 
to the heaps of reeds : we then approached and ex- 
amined them. The stakes and twigs are stuck in 
the earth, so as to form a multitude of passages and 
compartments for various purposes, — stalls for sheep, 
goats, cattle, granaries, which are only large baskets, 
and finally the dwellings. The latter have walls two 
feet high, a door eighteen inches square, a diameter of 
five feet, and a height, in the middle, of six feet. The 
entire establishment is about 120 feet in circumference. 
These residences are scattered over the whole country, 
near each other, and each surrounded by its own 
fields." 

Their intercourse with king Nangaro was equally 
unfortunate. After they had refused to accompany 
and assist him in one of his forays for plunder, he 
forbade them to pass further through his territory. 



THE OKA VANGO RIVER. 85 

At the end of a week they decided to return, but had 
hardly started on their way, when a loud war-cry was 
raised in the king's hut, and immediately echoed from 
all the huts scattered over the plain. In a short time 
the little party, only 30 in number, was surrounded 
and attacked by 800 Ovampo warriors. The former 
were, fortunately, well-armed, and defended themselves 
so desperately, that after a light s$ several hours the 
natives retreated. The travellers now pushed rapidly 
forward, avoiding the inhabited portions of the coun- 
try, without guides, in a waterless wilderness, for 
three days, when they readied a well, and could rest 
without fear of a new attack. Beyond this point 
they ventured to resume the regular route, and on the 
11th of September arrived safely at New-Barwen. 

They afterwards learned that King Nangaro's hos- 
tility to them had proved fatal to himself. The vigor- 
ous defence which the party made, and the terror and 
loss occasioned to his people by fire-arms, enraged him 
to such a degree that he was stricken with apoplexy, 
and died almost immediately, his great corpulence 
hastening the catastrophe. 

The following spring, 1858, Anderson, who had 
returned to South Africa, fitted out a new expedition, 
in order to make a more thorough exploration of the 
country north of the Damara land. He furnished all 
his own wagons and supplies, depending on a good 
harvest of ivory for payment of his losses by the way. 
He had two servants, a Portuguese named Mortar, and 
Pereira, a half-breed from Malabar, both faithful and 
fearless men, and eight natives. He took seventy 
sheep and goats for provision, extra oxen, a horse and 



86 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

four asses for riding, and a pack of dogs for hunting. 
His main hope was to reach the Kunene River, and 
explore, if possible, its whole course. 

He set out in a northerly direction, but in a line 
which would have taken him to the westward of the 
Ovampo country. After crossing the Omarurn River, 
which flows into Whale Bay, he entered a plain covered 
with those thorny thickets which are the curse of a 
great part of South Africa. It was a terrible labor to 
break a way for the wagons. In order to give some 
idea of the toil and patience which the explorer must 
exercise, Anderson calculated that, for every 900 feet 
of distance, 170 bushes must be cut away, each bush 
having four tough stems, varying in thickness from the 
size of a man's finger to that of his leg. On an aver- 
age, each bush required twelve strokes of the axe, 
making nearly 10,000 strokes to the mile ; and when 
we reflect that this labor must be carried on for a dis- 
tance of 120 miles, we can then first fully comprehend 
its magnitude. 

After twenty-three days Anderson's patience was 
rewarded by seeing the last of the thorns (the acacia 
detinens !) behind him, and before him a forest of lofty 
trees, clear of undergrowth. Beyond this there were 
thorns again, but in narrower belts ; and the way was 
made difficult by gulleys, deep lateral valleys, and dry 
w r ater-courses, which always ran east and west, there- 
fore at right angles to their course. Yet a few daj 7 s, 
and he came upon a magnificent limestone wall, like 
that of a giant fortress, with bastions, ramparts and 
towers, twelve miles in length. At its base there was 
a little stream, nearly dry, but still nourishing a rich 



THE OKA VANGO RIVER. g'7 

vegetation. In the distance a chain of mountains, 2000 
feet in height, rose above the plains. 

At a place called Otjidambi, where there were five 
springs, Anderson found the first sign of human life : 
there were evidences that a large number of natives had 
recently been there. The country is a table-land, from 
two to four thousand feet above the ^ea-level, bounded 
on the west by a range of granite fountains near the 
coast, about 500 miles in length, and running nearly 
due north and south. The table-land is crossed, at 
right angles to this chain, by hills of sandstone or 
limestone, w^hile now and then an isolated granite peak, 
from one to three thousand feet in height, crops out. 
The face of the country is partly bare and stony, partly 
covered with thickets of the thorny mimosa. The val- 
leys which lie below the general level have running 
streams during the rainy season, but during the dry 
months these shrink into pools or marshy spots, where 
water may be found by digging. 

In some of these valleys, the Damaras had settled 
with their herds, and lived quietly until their retreats 
w T ere discovered by the Namaquas, who made an in- 
cursion into the country, the year before Anderson's 
journey, and, in spite of the gallant resistance of the 
Damaras, carried off many of their cattle. Anderson's 
caravan, therefore, was looked upon with suspicion, and 
the natives hid themselves at his approach. As he w r as 
suffering for want of water, he made a hunt for men 
instead of elephants, and succeeded in capturing a man 
and his wife. The terrified creatures received presents, 
instead of the death they expected ; they guided the 
caravan to the nearest spring, and then, still mistrust- 



88 TEA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

ful of the character of the strangers, made their escape 
by night. 

Nevertheless, the hidden natives were enticed, by 
the presents which the two had received, to come forth, 
and some of them willingly offered their services as 
guides. With their aid, the journey was continued, 
in a series of zigzags to the right and left, for between 
three and four hundred miles. This distance, in a 
straight line, would have taken Anderson beyond the 
Kunene River ; but it was not yet reached. Meanwhile, 
his condition was becoming hazardous : for two days 
no water had been found, and the guides declared that 
they had lost the way to the next spring. Men were 
sent out in all directions to look for signs of water, 
but, as the night came on, one after another returned, 
without having been successful. Two men still re- 
mained absent, but their absence was not an encourag- 
ing sign, and Anderson was obliged, without much 
time for reflection, to retrace his steps. 

Now, however, a new and unexpected danger 
threatened the caravan. The Damara herdsmen are 
accustomed to set fire to the dry grass, in order to 
hasten the growth of a fresh pasturage for their cattle. 
Anderson had frequently seen these fires in the dis- 
tance, without paying any particular attention to them ; 
but now, on the return, almost perishing from thirst, 
he suddenly saw the lines of flame approaching in 
front, and still closing in as they came, until the whole 
country became like a sea of fire. There was no es- 
cape ; but he discovered a kind of channel where the 
grass was thin, and the oxen made their way through 
covered with showers of sparks, and scorched by the 



THE OKA VANGO RIVER. 89 

falling branches of burning trees. When, finally, at 
midnight, he reached a place where water could be 
obtained by digging, all the cattle, which had not had 
a drop for six days, broke loose and dashed away, fol- 
lowing their certain instinct, to the nearest Damara 
camping-place. While Anderson and his men were 
resting here, the two missing native^ arrived, having 
actually found water after long seafeh. 

But the whole party had suffered too much, and 
escaped too many dangers, to think of turning about 
again. They made their way slowly back towards 
the nearest mission-station, and Anderson sent Pereira 
with the broken wagon, to have it repaired and then 
rejoin him further to the eastward. Meantime, he 
devoted himself to elephant-hunting, to replenish his 
diminishing resources. While thus engaged he met 
a caravan of 400 Damaras, on their way to the Ovampo 
land. Many of them w T ere women-porters carrying 
loads of beads and shells, to be bartered for articles of 
copper and iron. Anderson, however, suspected that 
trade was not the only object of the caravan. He 
noticed among the people several subjects of the Na- 
waque robber-chief, Yonker Africaner, and rightly 
guessed that they meant to spy out the land and report 
to their master the probable success of a plundering 
expedition. 

At the end of August, Pereira arrived with the 
wagon, and Anderson set out for the lake Omanbonde, 
which had so disappointed him and Galton when they 
discovered it in 1850. Now, however, instead of a 
mere swamp, he found a fine sheet of water four or five 
miles in circumference, with another of the same size 



90 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

near it. The shores of both swarmed with wild ani- 
mals; the elephants came in herds of a hundred, and 
he was able to kill a great many of the old male ani- 
mals, which furnished the most ivory. 

Anderson describes those nightly watches, hidden 
behind a high ant-hill, or in a dense thicket, awaiting 
the coming of the unsuspecting beasts in the full 
light of the moon, and sometimes witnessing their com- 
bats or amorous sports, as the highest delight which a 
true hunter can anywhere enjoy. He was sometimes 
obliged to bring into play all his courage and self-pos- 
session, when, after a close shot, the wounded animal 
turned upon him, or the whole herd put themselves in 
battle array. There were also lions, rhinocerosses, 
zebras, gnus and antelopes, so that his table was always 
w r ell supplied. He asserts that lion-steaks are very 
good and nutritious, the taste being very much like 
that of veal. 

He writes, in his journal : " During my wander- 
ings in South Africa, I have learned every variety of 
hunting, whether by night, on the borders of a lake or 
a salt-lick, or by day, on foot or horseback, — and I must 
affirm that an ambush by moonlight, near a pool fre- 
quented by herds of wild beasts, far surpasses all else. 
In the first place, there is something mysterious and 
exciting in the knowledge that one is the hidden, un- 
suspected witness of the movements, habits, and in- 
stincts of the members of a great natural menagerie — a 
menagerie wherein over-feeding, the iron bars of cages, 
and the brutal energy of the keepers has not tamed 
the fierceness of animal life, or blunted their elastic 
strength, their abandonment to passion and play. 



THE OKA VANGO RIVER. 91 

And then the intense interest with which the arrival 
of every new animal is awaited ! The distant footstep, 
which is always distinctly heard on the stony soil, then 
the strain of the ear when the beast crosses a softer 
strip of soil, the effort to determine whether it is an an- 
telope or an elephant, a wild bear or a rhinoceros, a gnu 
or a giraffe, a jackal or a lion ! Moreover, there are con- 
stant opportunities for observing the habits and pecu- 
liarities of all, to an extent whieh^vould be impossible 
by daylight. I do not exaggerate when I say that I have 
learned more from the tableau vivant of a single night, 
than from months of observation in the sunshine." 

In a short time so much ivory had been collected 
that Pereira was sent back to the mission with a large 
wagon-load, and meanwhile Anderson made an excur- 
sion to the most eastern point which he had reached in 
the expedition of 1850, with Galton. When he had 
returned to the lake, and was awaiting his attendant's 
return, the Damara caravan arrived. "When they 
reached the borders of the Ovampo country, the inhab- 
itants of the first village refused to allow them to pro- 
ceed further, until the present chief, Chipanga, should 
send a special permission. The Damaras therefore 
halted, and sent messengers forward ; but they soon 
returned with the new T s that, under no circumstances, 
could the caravan be allowed to enter the country. 
At the same time the Ovampo bad inquired what An- 
derson's plans were, declaring that they were disgusted 
with the conduct of the white men, in using weapons 
different from their own. Their defeat by Green and 
the missionaries seemed to rankle very deeply in their 
minds. 



92 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

The return of the Damara caravan, nevertheless, 
enabled Anderson to procure one of the chiefs as a 
guide. Pereira returned from the mission with new 
supplies, and on the 5th of January, 1859, the party- 
set out in search of the Ovampo River. When the 
missionaries, Hahn and Rath, first discovered this 
stream, it contained a considerable amount of water, 
and from the direction in which it flowed, they felt sure 
that it was a branch of the Kunene. There had been 
frequent rains, and Anderson kept watch, day after 
day, for the waters of the river. But the sky now re- 
mained clear, and evaporation went on so rapidly that 
pools, several feet deep, became dry ground in a week. 
After eleven days' travel, they came upon something 
like a river-bed, stretching to the northward, but with- 
out any running water. They used this as a road, 
and pushed onward, still hoping to reach the Ovampo, 
never suspecting that they w^ere actually travelling in 
its bed. After a time its direction changed, and they 
then took to the northern bank. At the end of two 
days more, the calcareous soil changed to dry sand, 
the thorny jungles were again encountered, and a new 
plague came upon them in the shape of a fierce horse- 
fly, which drew blood at every bite. This does not 
appear to have been the tsetse, since the oxen did not 
die, but the hides of the poor beasts were encrusted 
with blood. 

Having at last reached a spot which swarmed with 
game, especially elephants, Anderson made a halt of 
several days, to rest the cattle and supply his caravan 
with food. The flesh of the elephants was cut into 
strips and dried in the sun ; a heavy rain fell, and then, 



THE OKA VANGO RIVER. 93 

provided with food and water for a short time, they 
pressed forwards. Their progress through the thorns, 
up and down the steep ridges, was only a few miles a 
day, and Anderson at last determined to choose one of 
the most promising of the dry water-courses and follow 
it to the westward. This soon brought them upon the 
dry, waste table-land they had traversed the year before. 

Here, however, they fell in with a Bushman chief, 
who had accompanied the German missionaries in their 
journey, and who eagerly offered to guide them, on the 
condition that he should have an entire elephant as pay. 
His name was Kaganda : he proved to be an actire, 
intelligent fellow, who not only knew every little pool 
or marshy spot in the whole country, but imparted a 
secret which was of great service. He showed them 
that a large tree, with willow-like leaves, was generally 
hollow, and formed a natural cistern, wherein rain-water 
was preserved for a long time. They tried the experi- 
ment, and found good supplies of water, which was still 
tolerably fresh. 

Kaganda conducted the caravan through a region 
which swarmed with elephants, until finally, the land- 
marks were unknown to him, and he confessed that he 
could act as guide no longer. Anderson, as in the for- 
mer journey, sent out and captured a native and his 
wife, and learned from them that the river he hoped to 
reach was only distant a journey of two and a half days. 
He thereupon left his wagons and heavy baggage near 
a water-pool, took half of his men with him, and set 
out. It was still uncertain w T hat the Bushmen meant 
by " a river." He hoped it might be the Kunene, yet 
it was possibly merely a dry w T ater-course, where the 



94 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 

stream had shrunk to detached pools. On the second 
day, in fact, he reached such a dry bed, or valley, 
running from south to north, with the usual muddy 
pools, but, in addition to them, fresh springs and wells, 
— a refreshment he had long missed. Following this 
channel until noon the next day, the Bushman guides 
began to prepare themselves for a meeting with the in- 
habitants of the region watered by the promised river, 
by hiding their best arrows iu the trees. They 
declared that the people they were approaching were a 
race of scamps, who would attempt to plunder them of 
all they owned. 

Anderson rode on in a state of great excitement 
and expectation, his eyes turned to the north. Finally, 
he perceived a mountain-chain, along the horizon, run- 
ning east and west, and soon afterwards found himself 
on the bank of a river, 600 hundred feet in breadth. It 
did not seem to be any of the streams of which he had 
previously heard. The Ovampo had spoken to him of 
a large river which flowed westward towards the ocean ; 
but this, upon whose banks he stood, flowed distinctly 
eastward, into the heart of the continent. He was, 
therefore, inclined to look upon it as a great affluent of 
the Zambesi. The natives called the river the OJca- 
vango. Anderson guessed that the point he reached 
was somewhere between 17° and 18° S. Lat. and 17° 
and 19° E. from Greenwich. It is rather difficult to 
understand that a considerable branch of the Zambesi 
should be met with here : the absence of an exact ob- 
servation leaves the question still undecided. In spite of 
its eastern course the river may have been the Kunene. 

On the right bank, upon which he found himself, 




" BEHOLD ! A WHITE MAN." 



THE OKA VANGO RIVER. 95 

there were no settlements of the Okavangari, as the 
tribe is called. They saw some habitations on the op- 
posite bank, and it required a calling back and forth, a 
negotiation which lasted more than two hours, before 
the suspicious natives consented to bring their boats. 
They finally came armed, but were gradually persuaded 
that the strangers were peaceful. 

In order to avoid any difficulties in his further ex- 
ploration of the river, Anderson sent a messenger to 
the principal chief of the tribe, Chikongo, and begged 
that he might be received as a friend. The village 
where the chief resided lay further to the south, and 
the messenger soon returned with an invitation from 
Chikongo that Anderson should visit him, with assur- 
ances of his friendship. In the meantime the traveller 
had been well entertained, the natives having furnished 
him with meal and fruit, and also a cow. He w T aited 
in vain, however, for the arrival of a boat, and could 
only, at last, obtain with great difficulty a miserable 
canoe and a single guide. He soon perceived that the 
power of a chief over his subjects was by no means ab- 
solute, each of them acting much as he pleased. The 
native w T ho had taken him in his frail canoe, seemed 
to consider the voyage in the light of his ow T n amuse- 
ment and vanity ; for, instead of keeping in the swifter 
current, he floated slowly along the banks, and stopped 
at every hut in order to show the people the strange 
white man. Anderson began to look upon himself as 
a curious animal ; but these incidents at least enabled 
him to observe the natives very thoroughly. He found 
the men nearly all strong and well-built, while each 
woman seemed to him uglier than the others. 



96 



TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



The river and the landscapes on either side were 
delightful. Here and there the current was inter- 
rupted by islands, on which crocodiles were sunning 
themselves ; hippopotamus and water-fowl were also 
seen. Among the latter Anderson noticed a new va- 
riety of wild-goose, four feet high. The river-bottoms 
were covered with fields of grain, and fruit-trees, and 
ranges of wooded mountains on either hand enclosed 
the landscapes. 

At noon on the second day of the voyage he 
reached the residence of the chief, Chikongo. The 
houses of the village had precisely the appearance of 
bee-hives, and stood close together : around all there 
was a strong stockade, as a defence against enemies. 
The chief was as naked and as thickly plastered with 
grease and ochre as any of his subjects ; he only wore 
a few more beads and rings, and carried two or three 
daggers of native make in his girdle. One of the na- 
tives, who understood the Bechuana language, which 
Anderson also spoke, interpreted a hearty welcome to 
the latter. The chief excused himself for entertaining 
the stranger in such a rude manner, " like a Bash- 
man," on the ground that the Makololo (Livingstone's 
friends, on the Zambesi) had, a short time before, car- 
ried away the most of his cattle. Anderson further 
learned that the negro traders from Benguela visit this 
region, and exchange beads, powder, guns and brandy, 
for ivory and slaves. 

In the mountains to the northward there are rich 
mines of iron and copper, and the natives are skilled in 
smelting the ores and manufacturing the metals into 
various articles, partly for their own use, and partly 



THE OKA VANGO RIVER. 97 

for barter. They stated that the Ovampo land lay to 
the west of them, and the tribe of Bavickos to the 
east, whose capital was the town of Libebe, which 
Anderson had tried to reach on the Tioge River. To 
the south, they said, there w r as nothing but deserts. 

After a stay of three days in Chikongo's village, 
Anderson returned to the spot where he had left his 
wagons, and brought the whole ^c&ravan safely to the 
Okavango River. All aspects now seemed favorable, 
and he projected plans for the exploration of the river, 
w T hich w r ere suddenly frustrated by the appearance of 
another deadly enemy of the African traveller — fever. 
It w r as the dry season, and the exhalations from the 
pools and marshes make the air pestilential. Scarcely 
had the party reached the river-bank, when Anderson 
and five or six others were prostrated. For a whole 
month he waited from day to day, hoping to grow 
better, but at last was compelled to turn back, as the 
only means of saving his life. 

He returned upon his old trail, difficult and dan- 
gerous as he had found it. This time, also, the plains 
of dry grass were on fire in various places. It almost 
appeared as if the Bushmen had intended to check the 
march of the weakened caravan, and finally obtain 
through fire or starvation the plunder which they 
were too cowardly to fight for. Once, indeed, the dan- 
ger was so near that only a sudden change of the wind 
saved the whole party from death. 

About this time, Mr. Green; who was at the mission- 
station, learned that the Ovampo chief, Chipango, had 
sent out a body of his people to intercept Anderson's 
return, and cut him off. He hastily gathered together 
• 7 



98 TEA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 

a small body of men, and pressed forward to meet and 
assist his friend. The latter, however, had kept such 
a strict guard that the natives found no opportunity of 
taking him by surprise, and they did not dare to ven- 
ture an open attack. 

Green and Anderson met at the Ovampo River, and 
all danger was over. But Anderson was in a state of 
great exhaustion, from the fever which still clung to 
him, and the privations and anxieties of the return 
march. This w r as his last journey. 

In the winter of 1860, Green, accompanied by his 
brother, also reached the Okavango River. His main 
object was elephant-hunting, and he killed 42 animals 
in three months. He found the native tribe on the river 
to be peaceable, timid people, with whom he had no 
difficulties. They were then suffering from the raids of 
the JSTamaqua chief, Yonker Africaner, who had taken 
possession of the Ovampo country, and w T as sending out 
plundering expeditions in all directions. 

Green relates that he could easily have reached the 
Kunene River. The chief Chikongo offered him guides 
thither ; but it was now the hot and unhealthy season, 
and he feared that Anderson's experience might become 
his own. Many geographical details of the region 
lying between the central Zambesi valley and the 
Atlantic Ocean still remain to be cleared up ; yet so 
much has been achieved by Anderson, Green, and Mag- 
yar, that all its most important features are now 
known. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Livingstone's journey across the continent. 

/ 

I. TO THE MAKOLOLd^OUNTRY. 

LIVINGSTONE'S plan, after having sent his wife 
and children to England, was to return alone to 
the Makololo country, on the Zambesi Eiver, and con- 
tinue his explorations until he should discover a healthy 
region wherein to establish a new missionary station, 
with which communication might be kept up, either 
with the Cape, or the eastern or western coast. The 
opening of trade w T ith the natives was, of course, an in- 
cidental advantage, and thus the selection of a practi- 
cal route was included in his design. He was heartily 
supported by the London Missionary Society in his 
undertaking, and set out from Capetown in June, 1852, 
tolerably well provided for the journey, the extent 
and importance of which he was far from anticipating 
at the time. 

The travel through the colony and the Griqua 
country, made in w^agons drawn by oxen, was neces- 
sarily slow. Livingstone was obliged to remain some 
time at Kuruman, on account of the raid whicn the 
Boers of the Transvaal Republic had made upon Kolo- 
beng and the Bechuanas, and the consequent insecur- 
ity of the country. He gives the following interesting 
account of the native language : 



100 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

" During the period of my visit at Kuruman, Mr. 
Moffat, who has been a missionary in Africa during 
upward of forty years, and is well known by his inter- 
esting work, ' Scenes and Labors in South Africa,' was 
busily engaged in carrying through the press, with 
which his station is furnished, the Bible in the lan- 
guage of the Bechuanas, which is called Sichuana. 
This has been a work of immense labor ; and as he 
was the first to reduce their speech to a written form, 
and has had his attention directed to the study for at 
least thirty years, he may be supposed to be better 
adapted for the task than any man living. Some idea 
of the copiousness of the language may be formed from 
the fact that even he never spends a week at his w T ork 
without discovering new words ; the phenomenon, 
therefore, of any man who, after a few months' or 
years' study of a native tongue, cackles forth a torrent 
of vocables, may well be wondered at, if it is meant to 
convey instruction. In my own case, though I have 
had as much intercourse with the purest idiom as most 
Englishmen, and have studied the language carefully, 
yet I can never utter an important statement without 
doing so very slowly, and repeating it too, lest the for- 
eign accent, which is distinctly perceptible in all Euro- 
peans, should render the sense unintelligible. In this I 
follow the example of the Bechuana orators, who, on im- 
portant matters, always speak slowly, deliberately, and 
with reiteration. The capabilities of this language may 
be inferred from the fact that the Pentateuch is fully 
expressed in Mr. Moffat's translation in fewer words 
than in the Greek Septuagint, and in a very considera- 
bly smaller number than in our own English version. 



THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY. 101 

"Having been detained at Kuruman about a 
fortnight by the breaking of a wagon-wheel, I was 
thus providentially prevented from being present at 
the attack of the Boers on the Bakwains, news of 
which was brought about the end of that time, by 
Masebele, the wife of Sechele. She had herself been 
hidden in a cleft of a rock, over which a number of 
Boers were firing. Her infant cbegan to cry, and, 
terrified lest this should attract the attention of the 
men, the muzzles of whose guns appeared at every 
discharge over her head, she took oft* her armlets as 
playthings to quiet the child. She brought Mr. 
Moffat a letter, which tells its own tale. Nearly liter- 
ally translated, it was as follows : 

" ' Friend of my heart's love, and of all the confi- 
dence of my heart, I am Sechele. I am undone by 
the Boers, who attacked me, though I had no guilt 
with them. They demanded that I should be in their 
kingdom, and I refused. They demanded that I 
should prevent the English and Griquas from passing 
(northward). I replied, These are my friends, and I 
can prevent no one (of them). They came on Satur- 
day, and I besought them not to fight on Sunday, and 
they assented. They began on Monday morning at 
twilight, and fired with all their might, and burned 
the town with fire, and scattered us. They killed 
sixty of my people, and captured worn en, and children, 
and men. And the mother of Baleriling (a former 
wife of Sechele) they also took prisoner. They took 
all the cattle and all the goods of the Bakw T ains ; and 
the house of Livingstone they plundered, taking away 



102 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

all his goods. The number of wagons they had was 
eighty-five 9 and a cannon ; and after they had stolen 
my own wagon and that of Macabe, then the number 
of their wagons (counting the cannon as one) was 
eighty-eight. All the goods of the hunters (certain 
English gentlemen hunting and exploring in the 
north) were burnt in the town; and of the Boers 
were killed twenty-eight. Yes, my beloved friend, 
my wife goes to see the children, and Kobus Hae 
will convey her to you. 

" ' I am, Sechele, 

" < The Son of Mochoasele.' " 

It was some time before Livingstone found three 
servants who were willing to risk a journey to thf 
north. He was finally successful, and also accepted 
the company of a colored man named Fleming, who 
was desirous of opening trade with the Makololos. On 
the 20th of November they left Kuruman, and soon af- 
terwards met the chief Sechele, on his way to the Cape. 
He was determined to embark for England, and lay 
his grievances before the Queen. He succeeded in get- 
ting as far as Capetown, but there his means became 
exhausted, and he was obliged to return to his country. 

"Having parted with Sechele," Livingstone con- 
tinues, "we skirted along the Kalihari Desert, and 
sometimes within its borders, giving the Boers a wide 
berth. A larger fall of rain than usual had occurred 
in 1852, and that was the completion of a cycle of 
eleven or twelve years, at which the same phenomenon 
is reported to have happened on three occasions. An 
unusually large crop of melons had appeared in conse- 



THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY. 103 

quence. We had the pleasure of meeting with Mr. 
J. Macabe returning from Lake Ngami, which he had 
succeeded in reaching by going right across the desert 
from a point a little to the south of Kolobeng. The 
accounts of the abundance of water-melons were amply 
confirmed by this energetic traveller ; for, having these 
in vast quantities, his cattle subsisted on the fluid con- 
tained in them for a period of no less than twenty-one 
days ; and when at last they reacfed a supply of water, 
they did not seem to care much about it. Coming to 
the lake from the south-east, he crossed the Teoughe, 
and went round the northern part of it, and is the 
only European traveller who had actually seen it all. 
His estimate of the extent of the lake is higher than 
that given by Mr. Oswell and myself, or from about 
ninety to one hundred miles in circumference. 

" On the 31st of December, 1852, we reached the 
town of Sechele, called, from the part of the range on 
which it is situated, Litubaruba. Near the village there 
exists a cave named Lepelole ; it is an interesting evi- 
dence of the former existence of a gushing fountain. 
No one dared to enter the Lohaheng, or cave, for it 
was the common belief that it was the habitation of 
the Deity. As we never had a holiday from January 
to December, and our Sundays were the periods of 
our greatest exertions in teaching, I projected an ex- 
cursion into the cave on a week-day to see the god of 
the Bakwains. The old men said that every one who 
went in there remained there forever, adding, ' If the 
teacher is so mad as to kill himself, let him do so alone, 
we shall not be to blame.' The declaration of Sechele, 
that he would follow where I led, produced the great- 



104 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

est consternation. It is curious that in all their pre- 
tended dreams or visions of their god, he has always a 
crooked leg, like the Egyptian Thau. Supposing that 
those who were reported to have perished in this cave 
had fallen over some precipice, we went well provided 
with lights, ladder, lines, etc. ; but it turned out to be 
only an open cave, with an entrance about ten feet 
square, w T hich contracts into two water-worn branches, 
ending in round orifices through which the water ojice 
flowed. The onlv inhabitants it seems ever to have 
had were baboons. I left at the end of the upper 
branch one of Father Mathew's leaden teetotal tickets. 

" The Bechuanas are universally much attached to 
children. A little child toddling near a party of men 
while they are eating is sure to get a handful of the 
food. This love of children may arise, in a great meas- 
ure, from the patriarchal system under which they 
dwell. Every little stranger forms an increase of prop- 
erty to the whole community, and is duly reported to 
the chief — boys being more welcome than girls. The 
parents take the name of the child, and often address 
their children as Ma (mother), or Ra (father). Our 
eldest boy being named Robert, Mrs. Livingstone 
was, after his birth, always addressed as Ma-Robert, 
instead of Mary, her Christian name. 

" The whole of the country adjacent to the desert, 
from Kuruman to Kolobeng, or Litubaruba, and be- 
yond up to the latitude of Lake Ngami, is remarkable 
for its great salubrity of climate. Not only the na- 
tives, but Europeans w T hose constitutions have been 
impaired by an Indian climate, find the tract of coun- 
try indicated both healthy and restorative. The 



THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY. 105 

health and longevity of the missionaries have always 
been fair, though mission- work is not very conducive 
to either elsewhere. Cases have been known in 
which patients have come from the coast with com- 
plaints closely resembling, if they were not actually, 
those of consumption ; and they have recovered by 
the influence of the climate alone. It must always be 
borne in mind that the climate rie&r the coast, from 
which we received such very favorable reports of the 
health of the British troops, is actually inferior for 
persons suffering from pulmonary complaints to that 
of any part not subjected to the influence of sea-air. 
I have never seen the beneficial effects of the inland 
climate on persons of shattered constitutions, nor 
heard their high praises of the benefit they have de- 
rived from travelling, without wishing that its bracing 
effects should become more extensively known in 
England. 

" Having remained five days with the wretched 
Bakwains, seeing the effects of war, of which only a 
very inadequate idea can ever be formed by those who 
have not been eye-witnesses of its miseries, we pre- 
pared to depart on the 15th of January, 1853. On 
the 21st we reached the wells of Boatlanama, and 
found them for the first time empty. Lopepe, which 
I had formerly seen, a stream running from a large 
reedy pool, was also dry. The hot salt springs of 
Serinane, east of Lopepe, being undrinkable, we 
pushed on to Mash tie for its delicious waters. In trav- 
elling through this country, the olfactory nerves are 
frequently excited by a strong disagreeable odor. 
This is caused by a large jet-black ant named 



106 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

1 Leshonya. 5 It is nearly an inch in length, and emits 
a pungent smell when alarmed, in the same manner 
as the skunk. The scent must be as volatile as ether, 
for, on irritating the insect with a stick six feet long, 
the odor is instantly perceptible. 

" Occasionally we lighted upon land tortoises, which, 
with their unlaid eggs, make a very agreeable dish. 
We saw many of their trails leading to the salt foun- 
tain ; they must have come great distances for this 
health-giving article. In lieu thereof they often de- 
vour wood-ashes. It is wonderful how this reptile 
holds its place in the country. When seen, it never 
escapes. The young are taken for the sake of their 
shells ; these are made into boxes, which, filled with 
sweet-smelling roots, the women hang around their 
persons. When older it is used as food, and the shell 
converted into a rude basin to hold food or water. It 
owes its continuance neither to speed nor cunning. 
Its color, yellow and dark brown, is well adapted, by 
its similarity to the surrounding grass and brushwood, 
to render it indistinguishable ; and, though it makes 
an awkward attempt to run on the approach of man, 
its trust is in its bony covering, from which even the 
teeth of a hyaena glance off foiled. When this long- 
lived creature is about to deposit her eggs, she lets 
herself into the ground by throwing the earth up 
round her shell, until only the top is visible; then 
covering up the eggs, she leaves them until the rains 
begin to fall and the fresh herbage appears ; the young 
ones then come out, their shells still quite soft, and, 
unattended by their dam, begin the world for them- 
selves. Their food is tender grass and a plant named 



THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY. 107 

thotona, and they frequently resort to heaps of ashes 
and places containing efflorescence of the nitrates for 
the salts these contain." 

Livingstone also gives the following interesting 
account of the South African ostrich and its habits : 
" The ostrich is generally seen quietly feeding on some 
spot where no one can approach him without being 
detected by his wary eye. As the wagon moves along 
far to the windward he thinks it is intending to cir- 
cumvent him, so he rushes up a mile or so from the 
leeward, and so near to the front oxen that one some- 
times gets a shot at the silly bird. When he begins 
to run all the game in sight follow his example. I have 
seen this folly taken advantage of when he was feeding 
quietly in a valley open at both ends. A number of 
men would commence running, as if to cut off his re- 
treat from the end through which the wind came ; and 
although he had the whole country hundreds of miles 
before him by going to the other end, on he madly 
rushed to get past the men, and so was speared. He 
never swerves from the course he once adopts, but 
only increases his speed. 

" When the ostrich is feeding, his pace is from twenty 
to twenty -two inches ; when walking, but not feeding, 
it is twenty-six inches ; and when terrified, as in the 
case noticed, it is from eleven and a half to thirteen 
and even fourteen feet in length. Only in one case 
was I at all satisfied of being able to count the rate of 
speed by a stop-w r atch, and, if I am not mistaken, there 
were thirty in ten seconds ; generally one's eye can no 
more follow the legs than it can the spokes of a car- 
riage-wheel in rapid motion. If we take the above 



108 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

number, and twelve feet stride as the average pace, 
we have a speed of twenty-six miles an hour. It can- 
not be very much above that, and is therefore slower 
than a railway locomotive. They are sometimes shot 
by the horseman making a cross cut to their undevia- 
ting course, but few Englishmen ever succeed in kill- 
ing them. 

The ostrich begins to lay her eggs before she has 
fixed on a spot for a nest, which is only a hollow a few 
inches deep in the sand, and about a yard in diameter. 
Solitary eggs, named by the Bechuanas " lesetla," are 
thus found lying forsaken all over the country, and 
become a prey to the jackal. She seems averse to 
risking a spot for a nest, and often lays her eggs in 
that of another ostrich, so that as many as forty-five 
have been found in one nest. Some eggs contain 
small concretions of the matter which forms the shell, 
as occurs also in the egg of the common fowl : this 
has given rise to the idea of stones in the eggs. Both 
male and female assist in the incubations ; but the 
numbers of females being always greatest, it is prob- 
able that cases occur in which the females have the 
entire charge. Several eggs lie out of the nest, and 
are thought to be intended as food for the first of the 
newly-hatched brood till the rest come out and enable 
the whole to start in quest of food. I have several 
times seen newly-hatched young in charge of the 
cock, who made a very good attempt at appearing 
lame in the plover fashion, in order to draw oft* the at- 
tention of pursuers. The young squat down and re- 
main immovable when too small to run far, but attain 
a wonderful degree of speed when about the size of 



THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY. 109 

common fowls. It cannot be asserted that ostriches 
are polygamous, though they often appear to be so. 
When caught they are easily tamed, but are of no use 
in their domesticated state. 

" The egg is possessed of very great vital power. 
One kept in a room during more than three months, in 
a temperature about 60°, when broken, was found to 
have a partially-developed live cl^ick in it. The Bush- 
men carefully avoid touching the eggs, or leaving 
marks of human feet near them, when they find a nest. 
They go up the wind to the spot, and with a long stick 
remove some of them occasionally, and, by preventing 
any suspicion, keep the hen laying on for months, as 
we do with fowls. The eggs have a strong, disagree- 
able flavor, which only the keen appetite of the desert 
can reconcile one to. The Hottentots use their trow- 
sers to carry home the twenty or twenty-five eggs usu- 
ally found in a nest ; and it has happened that an Eng- 
lishman intending to imitate this knowing dodge, comes 
to the wagons with blistered legs, and, after great toil, 
finds all the eggs uneatable, from having been some 
time sat upon." 

When they reached the Bamangwato tribe, the 
chief Sekomi was particularly friendly, and collected 
the natives of his encampment to hear the religious 
services. Here the caravan rested for some days before 
advancing into the arid plains to the eastward of Lake 
ISTgami, over which Livingstone had passed in his first 
journey to the Makololo country. He adds some cu- 
rious particulars of the habits of the natives : " All the 
Bechuana and Kaifer tribes south of the Zambesi prac- 
tice circumcision {bogxierd)^ but the rites observed are 



110 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 

carefully concealed. The initiated alone can approach, 
but in this town I was once a spectator of the second 
part of the ceremony of the circumcision, called i se- 
chu.' Just at the dawn of day, a row of boys of 
nearly fourteen years of age stood naked in the kotla, 
each having a pair of sandals as a shield on his hands. 
Facing them stood the men of the town in a similar 
state of nudity, all armed with long thin wands, of a 
tough, strong, supple bush called moretloa (Grewia 
flava\ and engaged in a dance named 'koha,' in 
which questions are put to the boys, as 'Will you 
guard the chief well?' 'Will you herd the cattle 
well? 5 and, while the latter give an affirmative re- 
sponse, the men rush forward to them, and each aims 
a full-weight blow at the back of one of the boys. 
Shielding himself with the sandals above his head, he 
causes the supple wand to descend and bend into his 
back, and every stroke inflicted thus makes the blood 
squirt out of a wound a foot or eighteen inches long. 
At the end of the dance, the boys' backs are seamed 
with wounds and weals, the scars of which remain 
through life. This is intended to harden the young 
soldiers, and prepare them for the rank of men. After 
this ceremony, and after killing a rhinoceros, they 
may marry a wife. 

u No one of the natives knows how old he is. If 
asked his age, he answers by putting another ques- 
tion, ' Does a man remember when he was born ? ' 
Age is reckoned by the number of mepato they have 
seen pass through the formulae of admission. When 
they see four or five mepato younger than themselves, 
they are no longer obliged to bear arms. The oldest 



THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY. \\\ 

individual I ever met boasted he had seen eleven sets 
of boys submit to the boguera. Supposing him to 
have been fifteen when he saw his own, and fresh 
bands were added every six or seven years, he must 
have been about forty when he saw the fifth, and may 
have attained seventy-five or eighty years, which is no 
great age ; but it seemed so to them, for he had now 
doubled the age for superannuation/ among them. It 
is an ingenious plan for attaching ^the members of the 
tribe to the chiefs family, and for imparting a disci- 
pline which renders the tribe easy of command. On 
their return to the town from attendance on the cere- 
monies of initiation, a prize is given to the lad who 
can run fastest, the article being placed where all may 
see the winner run up to snatch it. They are then 
considered men (banona, viri), and can sit among tha 
elders in the kotla. Formerly they were only boys 
(basimane, pueri). The first missionaries set their 
faces against the boguera, on account of its connec- 
tion with heathenism, and the fact that the youths 
learned much evil, and became disobedient to their 
parents. From the general success of these men, it is 
perhaps better that younger missionaries should tread 
in their footsteps ; for so much evil may result from 
breaking down the authority on which, to those who 
cannot read, the whole system of our influence appears 
to rest, that innovators ought to be made to propose 
their new measures as the Locrians did new laws — 
with ropes around their necks." 

For a few days after leaving the Bamangwato there 
were good supplies of water. Then followed a stretch 
of sixty miles over a desert streaked with deposits 



112 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

of salt; and for nearly a month the privations of 
the caravan were very great, some of the few wells 
being spoiled by rhinoceros, while in other places 
water could only be found by digging. The tropical 
rams had been delayed long after their usual time, 
and it was not until the end of February, at a place 
called Unku, that they found fresh vegetation and 
abundant pools. Here the forest trees were all in 
blossom, and full of birds, the plains were covered 
with grass, and game of all kinds was plenty. 

On the first of March Livingstone writes : " The 
thermometer in the shade generally stot>d at 98° from 
1 to 3 p. m., but it sank as low as 65° by night, so 
that the heat was by no means exhausting. At the 
surface of the ground, in the sun, the thermometer 
marked 125°, and three inches below it 138°. The 
hand cannot be held on the ground, and even the 
horny soles of the feet of the natives must be pro- 
tected by sandals of hide; jet the ants were busy 
working on it. The water in the ponds was as high 
as 100° ; but as water does not conduct heat readily 
downward, deliciously cool water may be obtained by 
any one walking into the middle and lifting up the 
water from the bottom to the surface with his hands. 

" Proceeding to the north, from Kama-kama, we 
entered into dense Mohonono bush, which required - 
the constant application of the axe by three of our 
party for two days. This bush has fine silvery leaves, 
and the bark has a sweet taste. The elephant, with 
his usual delicacy of taste, feeds much on it. On 
emerging into the plains beyond, we found a number 
of Bushmen, who afterward proved very serviceable. 



THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY, H3 

The rains had been copious, but now great numbers 
of pools were drying up. Lotus-plants abounded in 
them, and a low, sweet-scented plant covered their 
banks. 

" The grass here was so tall that the oxen became 
uneasy, and one night the sight of a hyena made 
them rush away into the forest to the east of ns. On 
rising on the morning of the 19th. T found that my 
Bakwain lad had run away with tnem. This I have 
often seen with persons of this tribe, even when the 
cattle are startled by a lion. Away go the young 
men in company with them, and dash through bush 
and brake for miles, till they think the panic is a little 
subsided ; they then commence whistling to the cattle 
in the manner they do when milking the cows : hav- 
ing calmed them, they remain as a guard till the 
morning. The men generally return with their shins 
well peeled by the thorns. Each comrade of the 
Mopato would expect his fellow to act thus, without 
looking for any other reward than the brief praise of 
the chief. Our lad, Kibopechoe, had gone after the 
oxen, but had lost them in the rush through the flat, 
trackless forest. He remained on their trail all the 
next day and all the next night. On Sunday morn- 
ing, as I was setting off in search of him, I found him 
near the wagon. He had found the oxen late in the 
afternoon of Saturday, and had been obliged to stand 
by them all night. It was wonderful how he man- 
aged without a compass, and in such a country, to 
find his way home at all, bringing about forty oxen 
with him. 

"We wished to avoid the tsetse of our former 
8 



Ill TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

path, so kept a course on the magnetic meridian from 
Lurilopepe. The necessity of making a new path 
much increased our toil. We were, however, re- 
warded in lat. 18° with a sight we had not enjoyed 
the year before, namely, large patches of grape-bearing 
vines. There they stood before my eyes; but the 
sight was so entirely unexpected that I stood some 
time gazing at the clusters of grapes with which they 
were loaded, with no more thought of plucking than 
if I had been beholding them in a dream. The Bush- 
men know and eat them; but they are not well-fla- 
vored on account of the great astringency of the 
seeds, which are in shape and size like split peas. 
The elephants are fond of the fruit, plant, and root 
alike. 

"Fleming had until this time always assisted to 
drive his own w T agon, but about the end of March he 
knocked up, as well as his people. As I could not 
drive two wagons, I shared with him the remaining 
water, half a caskful, and went on, with the intention 
of coming back for him as soon as we should reach 
the next pool. Heavy rain now commenced ; I was 
employed the whole day cutting down trees, and every 
stroke of the axe brought down a thick shower on my 
back, which in the hard work was very refreshing, as 
the water found its way down into my shoes. In the 
evening we met some Bushmen, who volunteered to 
show us a pool ; and having unyoked, I walked some 
miles in search of it. At it became dark they showed 
their politeness — a quality which is by no means 
confined entirely to the civilized — by walking in 
front, breaking the branches which hung across the 



THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY. H5 

path, and pointing out the fallen trees. On returning 
to the wagon, we found that being left alone had 
brought out some of Fleming's energy, for he had 
managed to come up. 

" As the water in this pond dried up, w T e were soon 
obliged to move again. One of the Bushmen took out 
his dice, and, after throwing them, said that God told 
him to go home. He threw again in order to show 
me the command, but the opposite" result followed ; so 
he remained and was useful, for we lost the oxen again 
by a lion driving them off to a very great distance. 
The lions here are not often heard. They seem to 
have a wholesome dread of the Bushmen, who, when 
they observe evidence of a lion's having made a full 
meal, follow up his spoor so quietly that his slumbers 
are not disturbed. One discharges a poisoned arrow 
from a distance of only a few feet, while his companion 
simultaneously throws his skin cloak on the beast's 
head. The sudden surprise makes the lion lose his 
presence of mind, and he bounds away in the greatest 
confusion and terror. Our friends here showed me 
the poison which they use on these occasions. It is 
the entrails of a caterpillar called N'gwa, half an inch 
long. They squeeze out these, and place them all 
around the bottom of the barb, and allow the poison 
to dry in the sun. They are very careful in cleaning 
their nails after working with it, as a small portion 
introduced into a scratch acts like morbid matter in dis- 
section wounds. The agony is so great that the person 
cuts himself, calls for his mother's breast as if he were 
returned in idea to his childhood again, or flies from 
human habitations a raging maniac. The effects on 



116 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

the lion are equally terrible. He is heard moaning in 
distress, and becomes furious, biting the trees and 
ground in rage. 

" As we went north the country became very lovely ; 
many new trees appeared ; the grass was green, and 
often higher than the wagons ; the vines festooned the 
trees, among which appeared the real banian {Ficus 
Indica) with its drop-shoots, and the w T ild date and pal- 
myra, and several other trees which were new to me ; 
the hollows contained large patches of water. Next 
came water-courses, now resembling small rivers, 
twenty yards broad and four feet deep. The further 
we w^ent, the broader and deeper these became ; their 
bottoms contained great numbers of deep holes, made 
by elephants wading in them ; in these the oxen floun- 
dered desperately, so that our wagon-pole broke, com- 
pelling us to work up to the breast in water for three 
hours and a half; yet I suffered no harm. 

" We at last came to the Sanshureh, which presented 
an impassable barrier, so we drew up under a magnifi- 
cent baobab-tree, (lat. 18° V S., long. 24° 6' E.), and 
resolved to explore the river for a ford. The great 
quanity of water we had passed through was part of 
the annual inundation of the Chobe ; and this, which 
appeared a large, deep river, filled in many parts with 
reeds, and having hippopotami in it, is only one of the 
branches by which it sends its superabundant water to 
the south-east. From the hill N'gwa a ridge of higher 
land runs to the north-east, and bounds its course in 
that direction. We, being ignorant of this, w r ere in the 
valley, and the only gap in the whole country destitute 
of tsetse. In company with the Bushmen, I explored 



THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY. H7 

all the banks of the Sanshureh to the west, till we came 
into tsetse on that side. We waded a long way among 
the reeds in water breast deep, but alwaj^s found a 
broad, deep space free from vegetation and unfordable. 
A peculiar kind of lichen, which grows on the surface 
of the soil, becomes detached and floats on the water, 
giving out a very disagreeable odor, like sulphureted 
hydrogen, in some of these stagnant waters. 

" Next morning, by climbing the highest trees, we 
could see a fine, large sheet of water, but surrounded 
on all sides by the same impenetrable belt of reeds. 
This is the broad part of the River Chobe, and is 
called Zabesa. Two tree-covered islands seemed to be 
much nearer to the water than the shore on which we 
were, so we made an attempt to get to them first. It 
was not the reeds alone we had to pass through ; a pe- 
culiar serrated grass, which at certain angles cut the 
hands like a razor, was mingled with the reed, and the 
climbing convolvulus, with stalks which felt as strong 
as whipcord, bound the mass together. We felt like 
pigmies in it. and often the only way we could get on 
was by both of us leaning against a part and bending 
it down till we could stand upon it. The perspiration 
streamed off our bodies, and as the sun rose high, there 
being no ventilation among the reeds, the heat was 
stifling, and the water, which was up to the knees, felt 
agreeably refreshing. After some hours' toil, we 
reached one of the islands. Here we met an old friend, 
the bramble-bush. My strong moleskins were quite 
worn through at the knees, and the leather trowsers of 
my companion were torn and his legs bleeding. Tear- 
ing my handkerchief in two, I tied the pieces around 



118 TEA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

my knees, and then encountered another difficulty. 
We were still forty or fifty yards from the clear water, 
but now we were opposed by great masses of papyrus, 
which are like palms in miniature, eight or ten feet 
high, and an inch and a half in diameter. These were 
laced together by twining convolvulus, so strongly that 
the weight of both of us could not make way into the 
clear water. At last we fortunately found a passage 
prepared by a hippopotamus. Eager as soon as we 
reached the island to look along the vista to clear 
water, I stepped in and found it took me at once up to 
the neck. 

" Returning nearly worn out, we proceeded up the 
bank of the Chobe till we came to the point of depart- 
ure of the branch Sanshureh ; we then went in the 
opposite direction, or down the Chobe, though from 
the highest trees we could see nothing but one vast ex- 
panse of reed, with here and there a tree on the 
islands." 

Next morning they started again, embarking on a 
light pontoon boat, which they had brought with them. 
" We paddled on from midday till sunset. There was 
nothing but a wall of reed on each bank, and we 
saw every prospect of spending a supperless night 
in our float; but just as the short twilight of these 
parts was commencing, we perceived, on the north 
bank of the village of Moremi, one of the Makololo, 
whose acquaintance I had made on our former visit, 
and who was now located on the island Mahonta (lat. 
17° 58' S., long. 24° 6' E.). The villagers looked as 
we may suppose people do who see a ghost, and in their 
figurative way of speaking said, 'He has dropped 



THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY. H9 

among us from the clouds, yet came riding on the back 
of a hippopotamus ! We Makalolo thought no one 
could cross the Chobe without our knowledge, but here 
he drops among us like a bird.' 

" Next day we returned in canoes across the flooded 
lands, and found that, in our absence, the men had al- 
lowed the cattle to wander into a very small patch of 
wood to the west containing theJ^Mse / this careless- 
ness cost me ten fine large oxen. After remaining a 
few days, some of the head men of the Makololo 
came down from Linyanti, with a large party of Ba- 
rotse, to take us across the river. This they did in 
fine style, swimming and diving among the oxen more 
like alligators than men, and taking the wagons to 
pieces, and carrying them across on a number of canoes 
lashed together. We were now among friends; so 
going about thirty miles to the north, in order to avoid 
the still flooded lands on the north of the Chobe, we 
turned westward toward Linyanti (lat. 18° 17 f S., 
long. 23° 50' E.), where we arrived on the 23d of May, 
1853. This is the capital town of the Makololo, 
and only a short distance from our wagon-stand of 
1851. 

" The whole population of Linyanti, numbering be- 
tween six and seven thousand souls, turned out en 
masse to see the wagons in motion. They had never 
witnessed the phenomenon before, we having on the 
former occasion departed by night. Sekeletu, now in 
power, received us in what is considered royal style, 
setting before us a great number of pots of boyaloa, 
the beer of the country. These were brought by 
women, and each bearer takes a good draught of the 



120 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

beer when she sets it down, by way of Hasting' to 
show that there is no poison. 

" The court herald, an old man who occupied the 
post also in Sebituane's time, stood up, and after some 
antics, such as leaping and shouting at the top of his 
voice, roared out some adulatory sentences, as, ' Don't I 
see the white man ? Don't I see the comrade of Sebit- 
uane ? Don't I see the father of Sekeletu ? ' — ' We want 
sleep.' — ' Give your son sleep, my lord' etc., etc. The 
perquisites of this man are the heads of all the cattle 
slaughtered by the chief, and he even takes a share of 
the tribute before it is distributed and taken out of the 
kotla. He is expected to utter all the proclamations, 
call assemblies, keep the kotla clean, and the fire burn- 
ing every evening, and when a person is executed in 
public he drags away the bod} r . 

" I found Sekeletu, a young man of eighteen years 
of age, of that dark yellow or coftee-and-milk color, of 
which the Makololo are so proud, because it distin- 
guishes them considerably from the black tribes on the 
rivers. He is about five feet seven in height, and 
neither so good looking nor of so much ability as his 
father was, but is equally friendly to the English. 
Sebituane installed his daughter Mamochisane into the 
chieftainship long before his death, but, with all his 
acuteness, the idea of her having a husband who should 
not be her lord did not seem to enter his mind. He 
wished to make her his successor, probably in imita- 
tion of some of the negro tribes with whom he had 
come in contact ; but, being of the Bechuana race, he 
could not look upon the husband except as the wom- 
an's lord ; so he told her all the men were hers — she 



THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY. 121 

might take any one, but ought to keep none. In fact, 
he thought die might do with the men what he could 
do with the women ; but these men had other wives ; 
and, according to a saying in the country, ' the tongues 
of women cannot be governed,' they made her misera- 
ble by their remarks. One man whom she chose was 
even called her wife, and her son, the child of Mamo- 
chisane's wife ; but the arrangement w T as so distasteful 
to Mamochisane herself that, as soon as Sebituane died, 
she said she never would consent to govern the Mako- 
lolo so long as she had a brother living. Sekeletu, be- 
ing afraid of another member of the family, Mpepe, 
who had pretensions to the chieftainship, urged his 
sister strongly to remain as she had always been, and 
allow him to support her authority by leading the 
Makololo when they went forth to war. Three days 
were spent in public discussion on the point. Mpepe 
insinuated that Sekeletu was not the lawful son of 
Sebitnane, on account of his mother having been the 
wife of another chief before her marriage with Sebit- 
uane; Mamochisane however upheld Sekeletu's claims, 
and at last stood up in the assembly and addressed him 
with a womanly gush of tears : i I have been a chief 
only because my father wished it. I always would 
have preferred to be married and have a family like 
other women. You, Sekeletu, must be chief, and 
build up your father's house.' This was a death-blow 
to the hopes of Mpepe." 



CHAPTER IX. 

Livingstone's journey across the continent. 

ii. — voyage up the zambesi river. 

" IV ITY object," Livingstone continues, "being first 
-LVjL of all to examine the country for a healthy 
locality, before attempting to make a path to either 
the east or west coast, I proposed to Sekeletu the 
plan of ascending the great river which we had dis- 
covered in 1851. He volunteered to accompany me, 
and, when we got about sixty miles away, on the 
road to Sesheke, we encountered Mpepe. The Ma- 
kololo, though possessing abundance of cattle, had 
never attempted to ride oxen until I advised it in 
1851. The Bechuanas generally were in the same 
condition, until Europeans came among them and 
imparted the idea of riding. All their journeys pre- 
viously were performed on foot. Sekeletu and his 
companions were mounted on oxen, though, having 
neither saddle nor bridle, they were perpetually falling 
off. Mpepe, armed with his little axe, came along a 
path parallel to, but a quarter of a mile distant from, 
that of our party, and, when he saw Sekeletu, he ran 
with all his might toward us ; but Sekeletu, being on 
his guard, galloped off to an adjacent village. He 
then withdrew somewhere till all our party came up. 
Mpepe had given his own party to understand that 



VOYAGE UP THE ZAMBESI RIVER. 123 

he would cut down Sekeletu, either on their first 
meeting, or at the breaking up of their first conference. 
The former intention having been thus frustrated, he 
then determined to effect his purpose after their first 
interview. I happened to sit down between the two 
in the hut where they met. Being tired with riding 
all day in the sun, I soon asked Sekeletu where I 
should sleep, and he replied, 4 Come/, I will show you.' 
As we rose together, I unconsciously covered Seke- 
letu's body with mine, and saved him from the blow 
of the assassin. I knew nothing of the plot, but 
remarked that all Mpepe's men kept hold of their 
arms, even after we had sat down — a thing quite 
unusual in the presence of a chief; and when Sekeletu 
showed me the hut in which I was to spend the night, 
he said to me, ' That man wishes to kill me.' I 
afterward learned that some of Mpepe's attendants 
had divulged the secret ; and, bearing in mind his 
father's instructions, Sekeletu put Mpepe to death that 
night. It was managed so quietly, that, although I 
was sleeping within a few yards of the scene, I knew 
nothing of it till the next day. Nokuane went to 
the fire, at which Mpepe sat, with a handful of snuff, 
as if he were about to sit down and regale himself 
therewith. Mpepe said to him, 'Nsepisa' (cause me 
to take a pinch) ; and, as he held out his hand, No- 
kuane caught hold of it, while another man seized the 
other hand, and, leading him out a mile, speared him. 
This is the common mode of executing criminals. 
They are not allowed to speak' ; though on one occa- 
sion a man, feeling his wrist held too tightly, said, 
c Hold me gently, can't you ? you will soon be led 



124 



TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



out in the same way yourselves.' Mpepe's men fled 
to the Barotse, and, it being unadvisable for us to go 
thither during the commotion which followed on 
Mpepe's death, we returned to Linyanti. 

" Soon after our arrival, Sekeletu took me aside, 
and pressed me to mention those things I liked best 
and hoped to get from him. Anything, either in or 
out of his town, should be freely given if I would 
only mention it. I explained to him that my object 
was to elevate him and his people to be Christians ; 
but he replied he did not wish to learn to read the 
Book, for he was afraid 'it might change his heart, 
and make him content with only one wife, like Se- 
chele.' It was of little use to urge that the change 
of heart implied a contentment with one wife equal 
to his present complacency in polygamy. Such a 
preference after the change of mind could not now be 
understood by him any more than the real, unmistak- 
able pleasure of religious services can by those who 
have not experienced what is known by the term the 
'new heart.' I assured him that nothing was ex- 
pected but by his own voluntary decision. ' No, no ; 
he wanted always to have five wives at least.' I 
liked the frankness of Sekeletu, for nothing is so wea- 
rying to the spirit as talking to those who agree with 
everything advanced. 

As I had declined to name anything as a pres- 
ent from Skeleletu, except a canoe to take me up the 
river, he brought ten fine elephants' tusks and laid 
them down beside my wagon. He would take no 
denial, though I told him I should prefer to see him 
trading with Fleming, a man of color from the West 



VOYAGE UP THE ZAMBESI RIVER. 125 

Indies, who had come for the purpose. I had, dur- 
ing the eleven years of my previous course, invaria- 
bly abstained from taking presents of ivory from an 
idea that a religious instructor degraded himself by 
accepting gifts from those whose spiritual welfare he 
professed to seek. My precedence of all traders in 
the line of discovery put me often in the w T ay of very 
handsome offers, but I always advised the donors to 
sell their ivory to traders, who would be sure to 
follow. 

" I had brought with me as presents an improved 
breed of goats, fowls, and a pair of cats. A superior 
bull was brought, also as a gift to Sekeletu, but I was 
compelled to leave it on account of its having become 
foot-sore. As the Makololo are very fond of improv- 
ing the breed of their domestic animals, they were 
much pleased with my selection. I endeavored to 
bring the bull, in performance of a promise made to 
Sebituane before he died. Admiring a calf which we 
had with us, he proposed to give me a cow for it, 
which in the native estimation was offering three 
times its value. I presented it to him at once, and 
promised to bring him another and a better one. 
Sekeletu was much gratified by my attempt to keep 
my word given to his father. 

" They have two breeds of cattle among them. One, 
called the Batoka, because captured from that tribe, is 
of diminutive size, but very beautiful, and closely resem- 
bles the short-horns of our own country. All are re- 
markably fond of their cattle, and spend much time in 
ornamenting and adorning them. Some are branded 
all over with a hot knife, so as to cause a permanent 



126 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

discoloration of the hair, in lines like the bands on the 
hide of a zebra. Pieces of skin two or three inches 
long and broad are detached, and allowed to heal in a 
dependent position around the head — a strange style of 
ornament ; indeed, it is difficult to conceive in what 
their notion of beauty consists. The women have 
somewhat the same ideas with ourselves of what con- 
stitutes comeliness. They came frequently and asked 
for the looking-glass ; and the remarks they made — 
while I was engaged in reading, and apparently not 
attending to them — on first seeing themselves therein, 
were amusingly ridiculous. ' Is that me ? ' ' What 
a big mouth I have ! ' c My ears are as big as pump- 
kin-leaves. 5 'I have no chin at all.' Or, 'I would 
have been pretty, but am spoiled by these high cheek- 
bones.' ' See how my head shoots up in the mid- 
dle ! ' laughing vociferously all the time at their own 
jokes. They readily perceived any defect in each 
other, and give nicknames accordingly. One man came 
alone to have a quiet gaze at his own features once, 
when he thought I was asleep ; after twisting his 
mouth about in various directions, he remarked to him- 
self, ' People say I am ugly, and how very ugly I am 
indeed ! ' 

" The Makololo women work but little. Indeed, the 
families of that nation are spread over the country, one 
or tw T o only in each village, as the lords of the land. 
They all have lordship over great numbers of subjected 
tribes, who pass by the general name Makalaka, and 
w T ho are forced to render certain services, and to aid in 
tilling the soil ; but each has his own land under culti- 
vation, and otherwise lives nearly independent. They 



VOYAGE UP THE ZAMBESI RIVER. 127 

are proud to be called Makololo, but the other term is 
often used in reproach, as betokening inferiority. This 
species of servitude may be termed serfdom, as it has to 
be rendered in consequence of subjection by force of 
arms, but it is necessarily very mild. It is so easy for 
any one who is unkindly treated to make his escape to 
other tribes, that the Makololo are compelled to treat 
them, to a great extent, rather as ^children than slaves. 
Some masters, who fail from defect of temper or dispo- 
sition to secure the affections of the conquered people, 
frequently find themselves left without a single ser- 
vant, in consequence of the absence and impossibility 
of enforcing a fugitive-slave law, and the readiness with 
which those who are themselves subjected assist the 
fugitives across the rivers in canoes. The Makololo 
ladies are liberal in their presents of milk and other 
food, and seldom require to labor, except in the way of 
beautifying their own huts and court-yards. They 
drink large quantities of boyaloa or o-alo, the btiza of 
the Arabs, which, being made of the grain called holcus 
sorghum or ' durasaifi,' in a minute state of subdivi- 
sion, is very nutritious, and gives that plumpness of 
form which is considered beautiful. Thev dislike being 
seen at their potations by persons of the opposite sex. 
They cut their woolly hair quite short, and delight in 
having the whole person shining with butter. Their 
dress is a kilt reaching to the knees ; its material is ox- 
hide, made as soft as cloth. It is not ungraceful. A 
soft skin mantle is thrown across the shoulders when 
the lady is unemployed, but when engaged in any sort 
of labor she throws this aside, and works in the kilt 
alone. The ornaments most coveted are large brass 



1 28 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

anklets as thick as the little finger, and armlets of both 
brass and ivory, the latter often an inch broad. The 
rings are so heavy that the ankles are often blistered 
by the weight pressing down ; but it is the fashion, 
and is borne as magnanimously as tight lacing and tight 
shoes among ourselves. Strings of beads are hung 
around the neck, and the fashionable colors being light 
green and pink, a trader could get almost anything he 
chose for beads of these colors. 

" At our public religious services in the kotla, the 
Makololo women always behaved with decorum from 
the first, except at the conclusion of the prayer. When 
all knelt down, many of those who had children, in 
following the example of the rest, bent over their little 
ones ; the children, in terror of being crushed to death, 
set up a simultaneous yell, which so tickled the whole 
assembly that there was often a subdued titter, to be 
turned into a hearty laugh as soon as they heard 
Amen. This was not so difficult to overcome in them 
as similar peccadilloes were in the case of the women 
farther south. Long after we had settled at Mabotsa, 
when preaching on the most solemn subjects, a woman 
might be observed to look round, and, seeing a neigh- 
bor seated on her dress, give her a hunch with the 
elbow to make her move off; the other would return 
it with interest, and perhaps the remark, ' Take the 
nasty thing away, will you ? ' Then three or four 
would begin to hustle the first offenders, and the men 
to swear at them all, by way of enforcing silence." 

On the 30th of May, Livingstone was attacked 
w T ith fever at Linyanti, and more than three weeks 
elapsed before he was in a condition to travel. By 



VOYAGE UP THE ZAMBESI RIVER. 129 

the use of the hydropathic " wet sheet, " and doses of 
quinine, he was finally restored to a tolerable condi- 
tion, and set out on a voyage up the Zambesi, from 
the town of Sesheke (in Lat. 17° 31 ' S.), to Naliele, 
the capital of the Barotse country (in Lat. 15° 24 ' S.), 
at that time subject to the Makololo chief. 

"I went," he says, "in company with Sekeletu 
and about one hundred and sixty attendants. We had 
most of the young men with iis^ and many of the 
under-chiefs besides. The country between Linyanti 
and Sesheke is perfectly flat, except patches elevated 
only a few feet above the surrounding level. There 
are also many mounds where the gigantic ant-hills of 
the country have been situated or still appear ; these 
mounds are evidently the work of termites. No one 
who has not seen their gigantic structures can fancy 
the industry of these little laborers ; they seem to im- 
part fertility to the soil which has once passed through 
their mouths, for the Makololo find the sides of ant- 
hills the choice spots for rearing early maize, tobacco, 
or anything on which they wish to bestow especial 
care. In the parts through which we passed the 
mounds are generally covered with masses of wild 
date trees ; the fruit is small, and no tree is allowed to 
stand long, for, having abundance of food, the Mako- 
lolo have no inclination to preserve wild fruit trees ; 
accordingly, when a date shoots up to seed, as soon as 
the fruit is ripe they cut down the tree rather than be 
at the trouble of climbing it. The other parts of the 
more elevated land have the camel-thorn, white-thorned 
mimosa, and baobabs. 

"When we arrived at any village the women all 



130 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

turned out to lulliloo their chief. Their shrill voices, 
to which they give a tremulous sound by a quick 
motion of the tongue, peal forth, c Great lion ! ' ' Great 
chief! ' ' Sleep, my lord ! ' etc. The men utter similar 
salutations; and Sekeletu receives all with becoming 
indifference. After a few minutes' conversation and 
telling the news, the head man of the village, w r ho is 
almost always a Makololo, rises, and brings forth a num- 
ber of large pots of beer. Calabashes, being used as 
drinking cups, are handed round, and as many as can 
partake of the beverage do so, grasping the vessels so 
eagerly that they are in danger of being broken. 

" They bring forth also large pots and bowls of 
thick milk ; some contain six or eight gallons ; and 
each of these, as well as of the beer, is given to a par- 
ticular person, who has the power to divide it with 
w r hom he pleases. The head man of any section of the 
tribe is generally selected for this office. Spoons not 
being generally in fashion, the milk is conveyed to the 
mouth with the hand. I often presented my friends 
with iron spoons, and it was curious to observe how the 
habit of hand-eating prevailed, though they were 
delighted with the spoons. They lifted out a little 
with the utensil, then put it on the left hand, and ate 
it out of that. 

"Sekeletu and I had each a little gipsy-tent in 
which to sleep. The Makololo huts are generally 
clean, while those of the Makalaka are infested with 
vermin. The cleanliness of the former is owing to the 
habit of frequently smearing the floors with a plaster 
composed of cow-dung and earth. If we slept in the 
tent in some villages, the mice ran over our faces and 



VOYAGE UP THE ZAMBESI RIVER. 131 

disturbed our sleep, or hungry prowling dogs would eat 
our shoes and leave only the soles. When they were 
guilty of this and other misdemeanors, w r e got the loan 
of a hut. The best sort of Makololo huts consist of 
three circular walls ; with small holes as doors, each 
similar to that in a dog-house ; and it is necessary to 
bend down the body to get in, even when on all-fours. 
The roof is formed of reeds or str^i^ht sticks, in shape 
like a Chinaman's hat, bound firmly together with 
circular bands, which are lashed with the strong inner 
bark of the mimosa-tree. When all prepared except 
the thatch, it is lifted on to the circular wall, the rim 
resting on a circle of poles, between each of which the 
third wall is built. The roof is thatched with fine 
grass, and sewed with the same material as the lash- 
ings ; and, as it projects far beyond the walls, and 
reaches within four feet of the ground, the shade is the 
best to be found in the country. These huts are very 
cool in the hottest day, but are close and deficient in 
ventilation by night. 

" Our course at this time led us to a part above 
Sesheke, called Katonga, where there is a village be- 
longing to a Bashubia man named Sekhosi. The 
river here is somewhat broader than at Sesheke, and 
certainly not less than six hundred yards. It flows 
somewhat slowly in the first part of its eastern course. 
When the canoes came from Sekhosi to take us over, 
one of the comrades of Sebituane rose, and, looking to 
Sekeletu, called out, c The elders of a host always take 
the lead in an attack.' This was understood at once ; 
and Sekeletu, with all the young men, were obliged 
to give the elders the precedence, and remain on the 



132 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

southern bank and see that all went orderly into the 
canoes. It took a considerable time to ferry over the 
whole of our large party, as, even with quick paddling, 
from six to eight minutes were spent in the mere 
passage from bank to bank. 

"Several days were spent in collecting canoes 
from different villages on the river, which we now 
learned is called by the whole of the Barotse the Li- 
ambai or Leeambye. This we could not ascertain on 
our first visit, and, consequently, called the river after 
the town 'Sesheke.' This term Sesheke means 
6 white sand-banks,' many of which exist at this part. 
There is another village in the valley of the Barotse 
likewise called Sesheke, and for the same reason ; but 
the term Leeambye means ' the large river,' or the 
river par excellence. Luambeji, Luambesi, Ambezi, 
Ojimbesi, and Zambesi, etc., are names applied to it 
at different parts of its course, according to the dialect 
spoken, and all possess a similar signification, and ex- 
press the native idea of this magnificent stream being 
the main drain of the country. 

"In order to assist in the support of our large 
party, and at the same time to see the adjacent coun- 
try, I went several times during our stay to the 
north of the village for game. The country is cov- 
ered with clumps of beautiful trees, among which 
fine open glades stretch away in every direction ; 
when the river is in flood these are inundated, but 
the tree-covered elevated spots are much more nu- 
merous here than in the country between the Chobe 
and the Leeambye. The soil is dark loam, as it is 
everywhere on spots reached by the inundation, while 



VOYAGE UP THE ZAMBESI RIVER, 133 

among the trees it is sandy, and not covered so densely 
with grass as elsewhere. 

"Having at last procured a sufficient number of 
canoes, we began to ascend the river. I had the choice 
of the whole fleet, and selected the best, though not 
the largest ; it w r as thirty-four feet long by twenty 
inches wide. I had six paddlers, and the larger canoe 
of Sekeletu had ten. They staijd/ upright, and keep 
the stroke with great precision, though they change 
from side to side as the course demands. The men 
at the head and stern are selected from the strongest 
and most expert of the whole. The canoes, being 
flat-bottomed, can go into very shallow water ; and 
whenever the men can feel the bottom, they use the 
paddles, which are about eight feet long, as poles to 
punt with. Our fleet consisted of thirty-three canoes, 
and about one hundred and sixty men. It was beau- 
tiful to see them skimming along so quickly, and keep- 
ing the time so well. On land the Makalaka fear the 
Makololo ; on water the Makololo fear them, and can- 
not prevent them from racing with each other, dash- 
ing along at the top of their speed, and placing their 
masters' lives in danger. In the event of a capsize, 
many of the Makololo would sink like stones. A 
case of this kind happened on the first day of 
our voyage up. The wind, blowing generally from 
the east, raises very large waves on the Leeambye. 
An old doctor of the Makololo had his canoe filled 
by one of these waves, and, being unable to swim, 
was lost. The Barotse who were in the canoe with 
him saved themselves by swimming, and were afraid 
of being punished with death in the evening for not 



134 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

saving the doctor as well. Had he been a man of 
more influence, they certainly would have suffered 
death. 

"We proceeded rapidly up the river, and I felt 
the pleasure of , looking on lands which had never 
been seen by a European before. The river is, indeed, 
a magnificent one, often more than a mile broad, and 
adorned with many islands of from three to five miles 
in length. Both islands and banks are covered with 
forest, and most of the trees on the brink of the 
water send down roots from their branches like the 
banian, or Ficus Indica. The islands at a little dis- 
tance seem great rounded masses of sylvan vegetation 
reclining on the bosom of the glorious stream. The 
beauty of the scenery of some of the islands is greatly 
increased by the date-palm, with its gracefully curved 
fronds and refreshing light green color, near the bot- 
tom of the picture ; and the lofty palmyra towering 
far above, and casting its feathery foliage against a 
cloudless sky. It being winter, we had the strange 
coloring on the banks which many parts of the Af- 
rican landscape assume. The country adjacent to the 
river is rocky and undulating, abounding in elephants 
and all other large game, except leches and nakongs, 
which seem generally to avoid stony ground. The 
soil is of a reddish color, and very fertile, as is at- 
tested by the great quantity of grain raised annually 
by the Banyeti. A great many villages of this poor 
and very industrious people are situated on both banks 
of the river: they are expert hunters of the hippo- 
potami and other animals, and very proficient in the 
manufacture of articles of wood and iron. The whole 



VOYAGE UP THE ZAMBESI RIVER. 135 

of this part of the country being infested with the 
tsetse, they are unable to rear domestic animals. This 
may have led to their skill in handicraft works. Some 
make large wooden vessels with very neat lids, and 
wooden bowls of all sizes ; and since the idea of sitting 
on stools has entered the Makololo mind, they have 
shown great taste in the different forms given to the 
legs of these pieces of furniture. J 

" From the bend up to the north, called Katima- 
molelo (I quenched fire), the bed of the river is rocky, 
and the stream runs fast, forming a succession of rapids 
and cataracts, which prevent continuous navigation 
when the water is low. The rapids are not visible 
when the river is full, but the cataracts of Nambwe, 
Bombwe, and Kale must always be dangerous. The 
fall at each of these is between four and six feet. But 
the falls of Gonye present a much more serious obstacle. 
There we were obliged to take the canoes out of the 
water, and carry them more than a mile bv land. The 
fall is about thirty feet. The main body of water, 
which comes over the ledge of rock when the river is 
low, is collected into a space seventy or eighty yards 
w T ide before it takes the leap, and, a mass of rock being 
thrust forward against the roaring torrent, a loud 
sound is produced. Tradition reports the destruction 
in this place of two hippopotamus-hunters, who, over- 
eager in the pursuit of a wounded animal, were, with 
their intended prey, drawn down into the frightful 
gulf. 

"As we passed up the river, the different villages of 
Banyeti turned out to present Sekeletu with food and 
skins, as their tribute. One large village is placed at 



136 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

Gonye, the inhabitants of which are required to assist 
the Makololo to carry their canoes past the falls. The 
tsetse here lighted on us even in the middle of the 
stream. This we crossed repeatedly, in order to make 
short cuts at bends of the river. The course is, how- 
ever, remarkably straight among the rocks ; and here 
the river is shallow, on account of the great breadth 
of surface which it covers. When we came to about 
16° 16 ' S. latitude, the high wooded banks seemed to 
leave the river, and no more tsetse appeared. Viewed 
from the flat, reedy basin in which the river then flow- 
ed, the banks seemed prolonged into ridges, of the 
same wooded character, two or three hundred feet 
high, and stretched away to the N.N.E. and N.N.W. 
until they were twenty or thirty miles apart. The 
intervening space, nearly one hundred miles in length, 
with the Leeambye winding gently near the middle, is 
the true Barotse valley. It bears a close resemblance 
to the valley of the Nile, and is inundated annually, 
not by rains but by the Leeambye, exactly as Lower 
Egypt is flooded by the Nile. The villages of the 
Barotse are built on mounds, some of which are said 
to have been raised artifically by Santuru, a former 
chief of the Barotse, and during the inundation the 
whole valley assumes the appearance of a large lake, 
with the villages on the mounds like islands, just as 
occurs in Egypt with the villages of the Egyptians. 

u This visit was the first Sekeletu had made to 
these parts since he attained the chieftainship. Those 
who had taken part with Mpepe were consequently in 
great terror. When we came to the town of Mpepe's 
father, as he and another man had counseled Mamoch- 



VOYAGE UP THE ZAMBESI RIVER. 137 

isane to put Sekeletu to death and marry Mpepe, the 
two were led forth and tossed into the river. Nokuane 
was again one of the executioners. When I remon- 
strated against human blood being shed in the off- 
hand way in w r hich they w r ere proceeding, the coun- 
selors justified their acts by the evidence given by 
Mamochisane, and calmly added, ' You see we are still 
Boers ; we are not yet taught.' / 

" Mpepe had given full permission to the Mambari 
slave-dealers to trade in all the Batoka and Bashuku- 
lompo villages to the east of this. He had given them 
cattle, ivory, and children, and had received in return 
a large blunderbuss to be mounted as a cannon. When 
the slight circumstance of my having covered the body 
of the chief with my own deranged the whole con- 
spiracy, the Mambari, in their stockade, were placed in 
very aw T kward circumstances. It was proposed to at- 
tack them and drive them out of the country at once : 
but, dreading a commencement of hostilities, I urged 
the difficulties of that course, and showed that a stock- 
ade defended by perhaps forty muskets would be a 
very serious affair. ' Hunger is strong enough fox 
that,' said an under-chief; ' a very great fellow is he." 
They thought of attacking them by starvation. A& 
the chief sufferers in case of such an attack would have 
been the poor slaves chained in gangs, I interceded for 
them, and the result of an intercession of which they 
were ignorant was that they were allowed to depart in 
peace. 

u Naliele, the capital of the Barotse, is built on a 
mound which was constructed artificially by Santuru, 
and was his store-house for grain. His own capital 



138 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

stood about five hundred yards to the south of that, 
in what is now the bed of the river. All that remains 
of the largest mound in the valley are a few cubic yards 
of earth, to erect which cost the whole of the people of 
Santuru the labor of many years. The same thing 
has happened to another ancient site of a town, Lin- 
angelo, also on the left bank. It would seem, there- 
fore, that the river in this part of the valley must be 
wearing eastward. No great rise of the river is re- 
quired to submerge the whole valley ; a rise of ten 
feet above the present low-water mark would reach 
the highest point it ever attains, as seen in the mark- 
ings of the bank on which stood Santuru's ancient 
capital, and two or three feet more would deluge all 
the villages. This never happens, though the water 
sometimes comes so near the foundations of the huts 
that the people cannot move outside the walls of reeds 
which encircle their villages. When the river is com- 
pressed among the high rocky banks near Gonye, it 
rises sixty feet." 

From the town of Naliele Livingstone walked to 
Katonga, a village to the eastward, on a ridge which 
seems to bound the valley of the Zambesi. But it 
was only the commencement of the inundated lands, 
which gradually rise from the dead level of the river- 
bottoms, like the edge of the desert in the valley of 
the Nile. The situation was not exempt from fever ; 
so he returned to Naliele and continued his voyage up 
the river to the town of Libonta. Beyond this point, 
dense forests came to the water's edge, and the tsetse 
reappeared. Plearing that he was not far from a 
great river called Leeba, which came down from the 



VOYAGE UP THE ZAMBESI RIVER, 139 

country of Londa (reports of which had been received 
through the Portuguese), he pushed on, and in Lat. 
14° 11 f S. reached the confluence of the Leeba with 
the Zambesi. The latter river here changes its 
course, and appears to come from the east ; it is still a 
full, deep stream, about 300 yards wide, while the 
Leeba has a breadth of 250. There was no tradition of 
any white man having previously visited the region. 
" It was now," says Livingstone, " quite evident 
that no healthy location could be obtained in which 
the Makololo would be allowed to live in peace. I 
had thus a fair excuse, if I had chosen to avail myself 
of it, of coming home and saying that the * door was 
shut,' because the Lord's time had not yet come. 
But believing that it was my duty to devote some 
portion of my life to these (to me at least) very con- 
fiding and affectionate Makololo, I resolved to follow 
out the second part of my plan, though I had failed 
in accomplishing the first. The Leeba seemed to 
come from the N. and by W., or NVN".W. ; so, hav- 
ing an old Portuguese map, which pointed out the 
Goanza as rising from the middle of the continent in 
9° S. lat., I thought it probable that, when we had 
ascended the Leeba (from 14° 11 ') two or three de- 
grees, we should then be within one hundred and 
twenty miles of the Coanza, and find no difficulty in 
following it down to the coast near Loanda. This 
was the logical deduction ; but, as is the case witii 
many a plausible theory, one of the premises was de- 
cidedly defective. The Coanza, as we afterward 
found, does not come from anywhere near the centre 
of the country. 



140 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

"A party of Arabs from Zanzibar were in the coun- 
try at this time. Sekeletu had gone from Naliele to 
the town of his mother before we arrived from the 
north, but left an ox for our use, and instructions for 
us to follow him thither. We came down a branch of 
the Leeambye called Marile, which departs from the 
main river, and is a fine deep stream about sixty yards 
wide. It makes the whole of the country around 
Naliele an island. When sleeping at a village in the 
same latitude as Naliele town, two of the Arabs men- 
tioned made their appearance. They were quite as 
dark as the Makololo, but, having their heads shaved, I 
could not compare their hair with that of the inhabi- 
tants of the country. When w r e were about to leave 
they came to bid adieu, but I asked them to stay and 
help us eat our ox. As they had scruples about eating 
an animal not blooded in their own way, I gained their 
good- will by saying I was quite of their opinion as to 
getting quit of the blood, and gave them two legs of 
an animal slaughtered by themselves. 

"As this was the first visit which Sekeletu had paid 
to this part of his dominions, it was to many a season 
of great joy. The head men of each village presented 
oxen, milk, and beer, more than the horde which accom- 
panied him could devour, though their abilities in that 
line are something wonderful. The people usually 
show their joy and work off their excitement in dances 
and songs. The dance consists of the men standing 
nearly naked in a circle, with clubs or small battle-axes 
in their hands, and each roaring at the loudest pitch 
of his voice, while they simultaneously lift one leg, 
stamp heavily twice with it, then lift the other and 




MOONLIGHT DANCE. 



VOYAGE UP THE ZAMBESI RIVER. 141 

give one stamp with that ; this is the only movement 
in common. The arms and head are often thrown 
about also in every direction ; and all this time the 
roaring is kept up with the utmost possible vigor ; the 
continued stamping makes a cloud of dust ascend, and 
they leave a deep ring in the ground where they stood. 
If the scene were witnessed in a lunatic asylum it 
would be nothing out of the way, &nd quite appropri- 
ate even, as a means of letting on the excessive excite- 
ment of the brain ; but here gray-headed men joined 
in the performance with as much zest as others whose 
youth might be an excuse for making the perspiration 
stream off their bodies with the exertion. Motibe asked 
what I thought of the Makololo dtoce. I replied, 
' It is very hard work, and brings but small profit.' 
' It is,' replied he, ' but it is very nice, and Sekeletu 
will give us an ox for dancing for him.' He usually does 
slaughter an ox for the dancers when the work is over. 
u The women stand by, clapping their hands, and 
occasionally one advances into the circle, composed of 
a hundred men, makes a few movements, and then 
retires. As I never tried it, and am unable to enter 
into the spirit of the thing, I cannot recommend 
the Makololo polka to the dancing world, but I have 
the authority of no less a person than Motibe, Sek- 
eletu's father-in-law, for saying c it is very nice.' They 
often asked if white people ever danced. I thought 
of the disease called St. Yitus's dance, but could not 
say that all our dancers w T ere affected by it, and 
gave an answer which, I ought to be ashamed to own, 
did not raise some of our young countrywomen in the 
estimation of the Makololo. 



142 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

"As Sekeletu had been waiting for me at his 
mother's, we left the town as soon as I arrived, and 
proceeded down the river. Our speed with the stream 
was very great, for in one day we went from Litofe to 
Gonye, a distance of forty-four miles of latitude ; and 
if we add to this the windings of the river, in longi- 
tude the distance will not be much less than sixty 
geographical miles. At this rate we soon reached 
Sesheke, and then the town of Linyanti. 

" I had been, during a nine weeks' tour, in closer 
contact with heathenism than I had ever been before ; 
and though all, including the chief, were as kind and 
attentive to me as possible, and there was no want of 
food (oxen being slaughtered daily, sometimes ten at 
a time, more than sufficient for the wants of all), yet 
to endure the dancing, roaring, and singing, the jest- 
ing, anecdotes, grumbling, quarreling, and murdering 
of these children of nature, seemed more like a 
severe penance than anything I had before met with 
in the course of my missionary duties. I took thence 
a more intense disgust at heathenism than I had 
before, and formed a greatly elevated opinion of the 
latent effects of missions, in the south, among tribes 
which are reported to have been as savage as the 
Makololo. The indirect benefits which, to a casual 
observer, lie beneath the surface and are inappreciable, 
in reference to the probable wide diffusion of Chris- 
tianity at some future time, are worth all the money 
and labor that have been expended to produce them." 



CHAPTEE X. 

Livingstone's journey across the continent, 
iii. up the leeba^river. 

THE Makololo were so quick to perceive the ad- 
vantages of a regular trade with white men, that 
the greatest difficulties in the way of Livingstone's fur- 
ther exploration were removed. He decided to wait 
at Linyanti until the rains should have moderated the 
tropical heats, and then set out to find a way to St. 
Paul de Loanda. His observation of the latitude 
of Linyanti showed that the port of St. Philip de 
Benguela was much nearer, and he could have made 
arrangements with the Marnbari tribe to pass through 
their territory ; but he wisely preferred not to follow 
in the wake of slave-traders. Parties sent out to the 
westward, to discover a belt of territory free from the 
tsetse fly, returned unsuccessful, and the best prospect 
seemed to be to ascend the Zambesi and the Leeba 
as far as possible, and then strike westwards for the 
coast. Livingstone's account of the discussion of the 
matter among the natives, and his preparations for 
the further journey, must be given in his own words : 
"A'picho'was called to deliberate on the steps 
proposed. In these assemblies great freedom of 
speech is allowed ; and on this occasion one of the old 
diviners said, ' Where is he taking you to ? This 



144 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 

white man is throwing you away. Your garments 
already smell of blood.' It is curious to observe how 
much identity of character appears all aver the world. 
This man was a noted croaker. He always dreamed 
something dreadful in every expedition, and was cer- 
tain that an eclipse or comet betokened the propriety 
of flight. But Sebituane formerly set his visions 
down to cowardice, and Sekeletu only laughed at him 
now. The general voice was in my favor ; so a band 
of twenty-seven were appointed to accompany me to 
the west. These men were not hired, but sent to 
enable me to accomplish an object as much desired by 
the chief and most of his people as by me. They 
were eager to obtain free and profitable trade with 
white men. The prices which the Cape merchants 
could give, after defraying the great expenses of a 
long journey hither, being very small, made it scarce 
worth while for the natives to collect produce for that 
market ; and the Mambari, giving only a few bits of 
print and baize for elephants' tusks worth more pounds 
than they gave yards of cloth, had produced the be- 
lief that trade with them was throwing ivory away. 
The desire of the Makololo for direct trade with the 
sea-coast coincided exactly with my own conviction 
that no permanent elevation of a people can be effected 
without commerce. 

" The Makololo now put the question, % In the 
event of your death, will not the white people blame 
us for having allowed you to go away into an un- 
healthy, unknown country of enemies ? ' I replied that 
none of my friends would blame them, because I 
would leave a book with Sekeletu, to be sent to Mr. 



UP THE LEEBA RIVER. 145 

Moffat in case I did not return, which would explain 
to him all that had happened until the time of my 
departure. The book was a volume of my Journal ; 
and, as I was detained longer than I expected at 
Loanda, this book, with a letter, was delivered by 
Sekeletu to a trader, and I have been unable to trace 
it. I regret this now, as it contained valuable notes 
on the habits of wild animals, and the request was 
made in the letter to convey the Volume to my family. 
The prospect of passing away from this fair and 
beautiful world thus came before me in a pretty plain, 
matter-of-fact form, and it did seem a serious thing to 
leave wife and children — to break up all connection 
with earth, and enter on an untried state of .existence ; 
and I find myself in my Journal pondering over that 
fearful migration which lands us in eternity, wonder- 
ing whether an angel will soothe the fluttering soul, 
sadly flurried as it must be on entering the spirit 
world, and hoping that Jesus might speak but one 
word of peace, for that would establish in the bosom 
an everlasting calm. 

" I had three muskets for my people, a rifle and 
double-barreled smooth-bore for myself; and, having 
seen such great abundance of game in my visit to the 
Leeba, I imagined that I could easily supply the wants 
of my party. Wishing also to avoid the discourage- 
ment which would naturally be felt on meeting any 
obstacles if my companions were obliged to carry heavy 
loads, I took only a few biscuits, a few pounds of tea 
and sugar, and about twenty of coffee, which, as the 
Arabs And, though used without either milk or sugar, 
is a most refreshing beverage after fatigue or exposure 
10 



116 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

to the sun. We carried one small tin canister, about 
fifteen inches square, filled with spare shirting, trow- 
sers, and shoes, to be used when we reached civilized 
life, and others in a bag, which were expected to wear 
out on the way ; another of the same size for medi- 
cines ; and a third for books, my stock being a Nautical 
Almanac, Thomson's Logarithm Tables, and a Bible; 
a fourth box contained a magic lantern, which we 
found of much use. The sextant and artificial horizon, 
thermometer, and compasses were carried apart. My 
ammunition was distributed in portions through the 
whole luggage, so that, if an accident should befall one 
part, we could still have others to fall back upon. 
Our chief .hopes for food were upon that ; but in case 
of failure, I took about 201bs. of beads, worth 40s., 
which still remained of the stock I brought from Cape- 
town, a small gipsy-tent, just sufficient to sleep in, a 
sheep-skin mantle as a blanket, and a horse-rug as a 
bed. As I had always found that the art of successful 
travel consisted in taking as few 'impedimenta' as 
possible, and not forgetting to carry my wits about me, 
the outfit was rather spare, and intended to be still 
more so when we should come to leave the canoes. 
Some would consider it injudicious to adopt this plan, 
but I had a secret conviction that if I did not succeed, 
it would not be for want of the ' knick-knacks' adver- 
tised as indispensable for travellers, but from want of 
' pluck,' or because a large array of baggage excited the 
cupidity of the tribes through whose country we 
wished to pass. 

" The course of the Chobe River, after starting, we 
found to be extremely tortuous; so much so, indeed, 



UP THE LEEBA RIVER. 147 

as to cany us to all points of the compass every dozen 
miles. Some of us walked from a bend at the village 
of Moremi, to another nearly due east of that point, 
in six hours, while the canoes, going at more than 
double our speed, took twelve to accomplish the voy- 
age between the same two places. And though the 
river is from thirteen to fifteen feet in depth at its low- 
est ebb, and broad enough to allow a steamer to ply 
upon it, the suddenness of the bendings would prevent 
navigation ; but, should the country ever become civ- 
ilized, the Chobe would be a convenient natural canal. 

" After spending one night at the Makololo village 
on Mparia, we left the Chobe, and turning round, be- 
gan to ascend the Leeambye ; on the 19 th of Novem- 
ber we again reached the town of Sesheke. It stands 
on the north bank of the river, and contains a large 
population of Makalaka, under Moriantsane, brother- 
in-law of Sebituane. There are parties of various 
tribes here, assembled under their respective head men, 
but a few Makololo rule over all. Their sway, though 
essentially despotic, is considerably mollified by certain 
customs and laws. 

" The following circumstance, which happened here 
when I was present with Sekeletu, shows that the 
simple mode of punishment, by forcing a criminal to 
work out a fine, did not strike the Makololo mind un- 
til now. A stranger having visited Sesheke for the 
purpose of barter, was robbed by one of the Makalaka 
of most of his goods. The thief, when caught, con- 
fessed the theft, and that he had given the articles to a 
person who had removed to a distance. The Makololo 
were much enraged at the idea of their good name 



148 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

being compromised by this treatment of a stranger. 
Their customary mode of punishing a crime which 
causes much indignation is to throw the criminal into 
the river ; but, as this would not restore the lost prop- 
erty, they were sorely puzzled how to act. The case 
was referred to me, and I solved the difficulty by pay- 
ing for the loss myself, and sentencing the thief to work 
out an equivalent with his hoe in a garden. This sys- 
tem was immediately introduced, and thieves are now 
sentenced to raise an amount of corn proportioned to 
their offences. 

" On recovering partially from a severe attack of 
fever which remained upon me ever since our passing 
the village of Moremi on the Chobe, we made ready 
for our departure up the river by sending messages 
before us to the villages to prepare food. We took four 
elephants' tusks, belonging to Sekeletu, with us, as a 
means of testing the difference of prices between the 
Portuguese, whom we expected to reach, and the white 
traders from the south. Mori ant sane supplied us well 
with honey, milk, and meal. The rains were just com- 
mencing in this district ; but, though showers sufficient 
to lay the dust had fallen, they had no influence what- 
ever on the amount of water in the river, yet never was 
there less in any part than three hundred yards of a 
deep flowing stream. 

" Our progress up the river was rather slow ; this 
was caused by waiting opposite different villages for 
supplies of food. We might have done with much less 
than we got ; but my Makololo man, Pitsane, knew of 
the generous orders of Sekeletu, and was not at all dis- 
posed to allow them to remain a dead letter. The vil- 



UP THE LEEBA RIVER. 149 

lages of the Banyeti contributed large quantities of 
mosibe, a bright red bean yielded by a large tree. The 
pulp inclosing the seed is not much thicker than a red 
wafer, and is the portion used. It requires the addition 
of honey to render it at all palatable. To these were 
added great numbers of the fruit which yields a variety 
of the nux vomica, from which we derive that virulent 
poison strychnia. The pulp between the nuts is the 
part eaten, and it is of a pleasant Juicy nature, having a 
sweet acidulous taste. The fruit itself resembles a 
large yellow orange. 

" When under way our usual procedure is this : We 
get up a little before five in the morning ; it is then 
beginning to dawn. While I am dressing, coffee is 
made ; and, having filled my pannikin, the remainder 
is handed to my companions, who eagerly partake of 
the refreshing beverage. The servants are busy load- 
ing the canoes, while the principal men are sip- 
ping the coffee, and, that being soon over, we embark. 
The next two hours are the most pleasant part of the 
day's sail. The men paddle away most vigorously ; 
the Barotse, being a tribe of boatmen, have large, 
deeply -developed chests and shoulders, with indifferent 
lower extremities. They often engage in loud scold- 
ing of each other in order to relieve the tedium of 
their work. About eleven we land, and eat any meat 
which may have remained from the previous evening 
meal, or a biscuit with honey, and drink water. 

" After an hour's rest we again embark and cower 
under an umbrella. The heat is oppressive, and, being 
weak from the last attack of fever, I cannot land and 
keep the camp supplied with flesh. The men, being 



150 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 

quite uncovered in the sun, perspire profusely, and in 
the afternoon begin to stop, as if waiting for the canoes 
which have been left behind. Sometimes we reach a 
sleeping-place two hours before sunset, and, all being 
troubled with languor, we gladly remain for the night. 
Coffee again, and a biscuit, or a piece of course bread 
made of maize meal, or that of the native corn, make 
up the bill of fare for the evening, unless we have been 
fortunate enough to kill something, when we boil a 
potful of flesh. This is done by cutting it up into long 
strips and pouring in water till it is covered. When 
that is boiled dry, the meat is considered ready. 

" The people of every village treated us most liber- 
ally, presenting besides oxen, butter, milk, and meal, 
more than we could stow awav in our canoes. The cows 
in this valley are now yielding, as they frequently do, 
more milk than the people can use, and both men 
and women present butter in such quantity that I 
shall be able to refresh my men as we move along. 
Anointing the skin prevents the excessive evaporation 
of the fluids of the body, and acts as clothing in 
both sun and shade. They always made their pres- 
ents gracefully. When an ox was given the owner 
would say, 'Here is a little bit of bread for you.' 
This was pleasing, for I had been accustomed to the 
Bechuanas presenting a miserable goat, with the pom- 
pous exclamation, ' Behold an ox ! ' The women per- 
sisted in giving me copious supplies of shrill praises, 
or ' lullilooing ; ' but though I frequently told them 
to modify their 'great lords' and 'great lions' to more 
humble expressions, they so evidently intended to do 
me honor that I could not help being pleased with the 
poor creatures' wishes for our success. 



UP THE LEEBA RIVER. 151 

" The rains began while we were at Naliele ; 
this is much later than usual; though the Bar- 
otse valley has been in need of rain, the people 
never lack abundance of food. The showers are 
refreshing, but the air feels hot and close; the 
thermometer, however, in a cool hut, stands only at 
84°. The access of the external air to any spot at 
once raises its temperature above^9Q°. A new attack 
of fever here caused excessive languor ; but, as I am 
already getting tired of quoting my fevers, and never 
liked to read travels myself where much was said 
about the illness of the traveller, I shall henceforth 
endeavor to say little about them. 

" Leaving Naliele, amid abundance of good wishes 
for the success of our expedition, and hopes that we 
might return accompanied with white traders, we 
began again our ascent of the river. It was now 
beginning to rise, though the rains had but just com- 
menced in the valley. The banks are low, but cleanly 
cut, and seldom sloping. At low water they are from 
four to eight feet high, and make the river always 
assume very much the aspect of a canal. They are in 
some parts of whitish, tenacious clay, with strata of 
black clay intermixed, and black loam in sand, or 
pure sand stratified. As the river rises it is always 
wearing to one side or the other, and is known to 
have cut across from one bend to another, and to form 
new channels. As we coast along the shore, pieces 
which are undermined often fall in with a splash like 
that caused by the plunge of an alligator, and en- 
danger the canoe. 

" Before leaving the villages entirely, we may 



152 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

glance at our way of spending the nights. As soon 
as we land, some of the men cut a little grass for my 
bed, while Mashuana plants the poles of the little tent. 
These are used by day for carrying burdens, for the 
Barotse fashion is exactly like that of the natives of 
India, only the burden is fastened near the ends of the 
pole, and not suspended by long cords. The bed is 
made, and boxes ranged on each side of it, and then 
the tent pitched over all. Four or five feet in front of 
my tent is placed the principal or kotla fire, the wood 
for which must be collected by the man who occupies 
the post of herald, and takes as his perquisite the 
heads of all the oxen slaughtered, and of all the game 
too. Each person knows the station he is to occupy, 
in reference to the post of honor at the fire in front of 
the door of the tent. The two Makololo occupy my 
right and left, both in eating and sleeping, as long as 
the journey lasts. But Mashauana, my head boatman, 
makes his bed at the door of the tent as soon as I re- 
tire. The rest, divided into small companies accord- 
ing to their tribes, make sheds all round the fire, leav- 
ing a horseshoe-shaped space in front sufficient for the 
cattle to stand in. The fire gives confidence to the 
oxen, so the men are always careful to keep them in 
sight of it. The sheds are formed by planting two 
stout forked poles in an inclined direction, and placing 
another over these in a horizontal position. A num- 
ber of branches are then stuck in the ground in the 
direction to which the poles are inclined, the twigs 
drawn down to the horizontal pole and tied with strips 
of bark. Long grass is then laid over the branches in 
sufficient quantity to draw off the rain, and we have 



UP THE LEEBA RIVER. 153 

sheds open to the fire in front, but secure from beasts 
behind. In less than an hour we were usually all 
under cover. We never lacked abundance of grass 
during the whole journey. It is a picturesque sight at 
night, when the clear bright moon of these climates 
glances on the sleeping forms around, to look out upon 
the attitudes of profound repose both men and beasts 
assume. There being no danger frqm wild animals in 
such a night, the fires are allowed^ almost to go out; 
and as there is no fear of hungry dogs coming over 
sleepers and devouring the food, or quietly eating up 
the poor fellows' blankets, which at best were but 
greasy skins, which sometimes happened in the vil- 
lages, the picture was one of perfect peace. 

" Part of our company marched along the banks 
with the oxen, and part went in the canoes, but our 
pace was regulated by the speed of the men on shore. 
Their course was rather difficult, on account of the 
numbers of departing and re-entering branches of the 
Leeambye, which they had to avoid or wait at till we 
ferried them over. The number of alligators is pro- 
digious, and in this river they are more savage than in 
some others. Many children are carried off annually 
at Sesheke and other towns ; for, notwithstanding the 
danger, when they go down for water they almost always 
must play a while. This reptile is said by the natives to 
strike the victim with its tail, then drag him in and 
drown him. When lying in the water watching for 
prey, the body never appears. Many calves are lost 
also, and it is seldom that a number of cows can swim 
over at Sesheke without some loss. I never could 
avoid shuddering on seeing my men swimming across 



154: TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

these branches, after one of them had been caught by 
the thigh and taken below. He, however, retained, as 
nearly all of them in the most trying circumstances do, 
his full presence of mind, and, having a small, square, 
ragged-edged javelin with him, when dragged to the 
bottom, gave the alligator a stab behind the shoulder. 
The alligator, writhing in pain, left him, and he came 
out with the deep marks of the reptile's teeth on his 
thigh. Here the people have no antipathy to persons 
who have met with such an adventure, but, in the Ba- 
mangwato and Bakwain tribes, if a man is either bit- 
ten, or even has had water splashed over him by the 
reptile's tail, he is expelled his tribe. When on the 
Zouga we saw one of the Bamangwato living among 
the Bayeiye, who had the misfortune to have been 
bitten and driven out of his tribe in consequence. 
Fearing that I would regard him with the same dis- 
gust which his countrymen profess to feel, he would 
not tell me the cause of his exile, but the Baj^eiye 
informed me of it, and the scars of the teeth were 
visible on his thigh. If the Bakwains happened to 
go near an alligator they would spit on the ground, 
and indicate its presence by saying, l Boleo ki bo ' — 
c There is sin.' The} 7 imagine the mere sight of it 
would give inflammation of the eyes; and though 
they eat the zebra without hesitation, yet if one bites 
a man he is expelled the tribe, and obliged to take 
his wife and family away to the Kalahari. These 
curious relics of the animal worship of former times 
scarcely exist among the Makololo. Sebituane acted 
on the principle, ' Whatever is food for men is food 
for me ; ' so no man is here considered unclean. The 
7 



UP THE LEEBA RIVER. 155 

Barotse appear inclined to pray to alligators and eat 
them too, for when I wounded a water-antelope, called 
mochose, it took to the water ; when near the other 
side of the river an alligator appeared at its tail, and 
then both sank together. Mashauanu, who was nearer 
to it than I, told me that, ' though he had called to it 
to let his meat alone, it refused to listen.' One day 
we passed some Barotse lads whp had speared an alli- 
gator, and were waiting in expectation of its floating 
soon after. The meat has a strong musky odor, not at 
all inviting for any one except the very hungry. 

" On the 27th of December we were at the conflu- 
ence of the Leeba and Leeambye (lat. 14° 10 ' S., long. 
23° 35 / E.). Masiko, the Barotse chief, for whom we 
had some captives, lived nearly due east of this point. 
They were two little boys, a little girl, a young man, 
and two middle-aged women. One of these was a 
member of a Babimpe tribe, who knock out both up- 
per and lower front teeth as a distinction. As we had 
been informed by the captives on the previous Sun- 
day that Masiko w^as in the habit of seizing all or- 
phans, and those who have no powerful friend in the 
tribe whose protection they can claim, and selling 
them for clothing to the Mambari, we thought the 
objection of the women to go iirst to his town before 
seeing their friends quite reasonable, and resolved to 
send a party of our own people to see them safely 
among their relatives. I told the captive young man 
to inform Masiko that he was very unlike his father 
Santuru, who had refused to sell his people to Mam- 
bari. He will probably be afraid to deliver such a 
message himself, but it is meant for his people, and 



156 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

they will circulate it pretty widely, and Masiko may 
may yet feel a little pressure from without. 

" We now began to ascend the Leeba. The water 
is black in color as compared with the main stream, 
w T hich here assumes the name Kabompo. The Leeba 
flows placidly, and, unlike the parent river, receives 
numbers of little rivulets from both sides. It winds 
slowly through the most charming meadows, each of 
which has either a soft, sedgy centre, large pond, or 
trickling rill down the middle. The trees are now cov- 
ered with a profusion of the freshest foliage, and seem 
planted in groups of such pleasant, graceful outline 
that art could give no additional charm. The grass, 
which had been burned off and was growing again 
after the rains, was short and green, and all the sce- 
nery so like that of a carefully-tended gentleman's park, 
that one is scarcely reminded that the surrounding re- 
gion is in the hands of simple nature alone. I suspect 
that the level meadows are inundated annually, for the 
spots on which the trees stand are elevated three or 
four feet above them, and these elevations, being of 
different shapes, give the strange variety of outline of 
the park-like woods. Numbers of a fresh- water shell 
are scattered all over these valleys. The elevations, 
as I have observed elsewhere, are of a soft, sandy soil, 
and the meadows of black, rich alluvial loam. There 
are many beautiful flowers, and many bees to sip their 
nectar. 

"When we reached the part of the river opposite 
to the village of Manenko, the first female chief whom 
we encountered, two of the people called Balunda, or 
Balonda, came to us in their little canoe. From them 



UP THE LEEBA RIVER. 157 

we learned that Kolimbota, one of our party, who had 
been in the habit of visiting these parts, was believed 
by the Balonda to have acted as a guide to the mar- 
auders, whose captives we were now returning. They 
very naturally suspected this, from the facility with 
which their villages had been found, and, as they had 
since removed them to some distance from the river, 
they were unwilling to lead us to their places of con- 
cealment. We were in bad repute, but, having a cap- 
tive boy and girl to show in evidence of Sekeletu and 
ourselves not being partakers in the guilt of inferior 
men, I could freely express my desire that all should 
live in peace. 

"As it would have been impolitic to pass Ma- 
nenko, or any chief, without at least showing so much 
respect as to call and explain the objects of our pass- 
ing through the country, we waited two entire days 
for the return of the messengers to Manenko ; and as 
I could not hurry matters, I went into the adjacent 
country to search for meat for the camp. 

"The country is furnished largely with forest, 
having occasionally open lawns covered with grass, 
not in tufts as in the south, but so closely planted that 
one cannot see the soil. We came upon a man and 
his two wives and children, burning coarse rushes and 
the stalks of tsitla, growing in a brackish marsh, in 
order to extract a kind of salt from the ashes. They 
make a funnel of branches of trees, and line it with 
grass rope, twisted round until, it is, as it were, a bee- 
hive-roof inverted. The ashes are put into water, in 
a calabash, and then it is allowed to percolate through 
the small hole in the bottom and through the grass. 



158 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 

When this water is evaporated in the sun, it yields 
sufficient salt to form a relish with food. The women 
and children fled with precipitation, but we sat down 
at a distance, and allowed the man time to gain cour- 
age enough to speak. He, however, trembled exces- 
sively at the apparition before him; but when we 
explained that our object was to hunt game, and not 
men, he became calm, and called back his wives. We 
soon afterward came to another party on the same er- 
rand with ourselves. The man had a bow about six 
feet long, and iron-headed arrows about thirty inches 
in length ; he had also wooden arrows neatly barbed, 
to shoot in cases where he might not be quite certain 
of recovering them again. We soon afterward got a 
zebra, and gave our hunting acquaintances such a 
liberal share that we soon became friends. 

"On the 6th of January 1854, we reached the 
village of another female chief, named Nyamoana, 
who is said to be the mother of Manenko, and sister 
of Shinte or Kabompo, the greatest Balonda chief in 
this part of the country. Her people had but re- 
cently come to the present locality, and had erected 
only twenty huts. Her husband, Samoana, was 
clothed in a kilt of green and red baize, and was 
armed with a spear and a broadsword of antique form, 
about eighteen inches long and three broad. The 
chief and her husband were sitting on skins placed in 
the middle of a circle thirty paces in diameter, a little 
raised above the ordinary level of the ground, and 
having a trench round it. Outside the trench sat 
about a hundred persons of all ages and both sexes. 
The men were well armed with bows, arrows, spears, 



UP THE LEEBA RIVER. 159 

and broadswords. Beside the husband sat a rather 
aged woman, having a bad outward squint in the left 
eye. We put down our arras about forty yards off, 
and I walked up to the centre of the circular bench, 
and saluted him in the usual way by clapping the 
hands together in their fashion. He pointed to his 
wife, as much as to say the honor belongs to her. I 
saluted her in the same way, ar^d a mat having been 
brought, I squatted down in front of them. 

" The talker was then called, and I was asked who 
was my spokesman. Having pointed to Kolimbota, 
who knew their dialect best, the palaver began in due 
form. I explained the real objects I had in view, 
without any attempt to mystify or appear in any 
other character than my own, for I have always been 
satisfied that, even though there were no other con- 
siderations, the truthful way of dealing with the un- 
civilized is unquestionably the best. Kolimbota re- 
peated to JSTyamoana's talker what I had said to him. 
He delivered it all verbatim to her husband, who re- 
peated it again to her. It was thus all rehearsed four 
times over, in a tone loud enough to be heard bv the 
whole party of auditors. The response came back by 
the same roundabout route, beginning at the lady to 
her husband, etc. 

"By way of gaining their confidence, T showed 
them my hair, which is considered a curiosity in all 
this region. They said, c Is that hair ? It is the 
mane of a lion, and not hair at all.' Some thought 
that I had made a wig of lion's mane, as they some- 
times do with fibres of the c ife,' and dye it black, and 
twist it so as to resemble a mass of their own wool. 



160 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 

I could not return the joke by telling them that 
theirs was not hair, but the wool of sheep, for they 
have none of these in the country ; and even though 
they had, as Herodotus remarked, ' the African sheep 
are clothed with hair, and men's heads with wool.' 
So I had to be content with asserting that mine was 
the real original hair, such as theirs would have been 
had it not been scorched and frizzled by the sun. In 
proof of what the sun could do, I compared my own 
bronzed face and hands, then about the same in com- 
plexion as the lighter-colored Makololo, with the 
white skin of my chest. They readily believed that, 
as they go nearly naked and fully exposed to that in- 
fluence, we might be of common origin after all. 
Here, as everywhere, when heat and moisture are 
combined, the people are very dark, but not quite 
black. There is always a shade of brown in the most 
deeply colored. I showed my watch and pocket* 
compass, which are considered great curiosities; but, 
though the lady was called on by her husband to 
look, she would not be persuaded to approach near 
enough. 

" As the Leeba seemed still to come from the di- 
rection in winch we wished to go, I was desirous of 
proceeding farther up with the canoes ; but Nyamo- 
ana was anxious that we should allow her people to 
conduct us to her brother Shinte; and when I ex- 
plained the advantage of water-carriage, she repre- 
sented that her brother did not live near the river, 
and, moreover, there was a cataract in front, over 
which it would be difficult to convey the canoes. She 
was afraid, too, that the Balobale, whose country lies 



UP THE LEEBA RIVER. 1(J1 

to the west of the river, not knowing the objects for 
which we had come, would kill us. To my reply that 
I had been so often threatened with death if I vis- 
ited a new tribe that I was now more afraid of killing 
any one than of being killed, she rejoined that the 
Balobale would not kill me, but the Makololo would 
all be sacrificed as their enemies. This produced con- 
siderable effect on my companions, /and inclined them 
to the plan of Nyamoana, of going to the town of her 
brother rather than ascending the Leeba. The ar- 
rival of Manenko herself on the scene threw so much 
weight into the scale on their side that I was forced 
to yield the point. 

" Manenko was a tall, strapping woman about 
twenty, distinguished by a profusion of ornaments and 
medicines hung round her person ; the latter are sup- 
posed to act as charms. Her body was smeared all over 
with a mixture of fat and red ochre, as a protection 
against the weather; a necessary precaution, for, like 
most of the Balonda ladies, she was otherwise in a state of 
frightful nudity. This was not from want of clothing, 
for, being a chief, she might have been as well clad as 
any of her subjects, but from her peculiar ideas of ele- 
gance in dress. When she arrived with her husband, 
Sambanza, they listened for some time to the state- 
ments I was making to the people of Nyamoana, after 
which the husband, acting as spokesman, commenced 
an oration, stating the reasons for their coming, and, 
during every two or three seconds of the delivery, he 
picked up a litt ■■ sand, and rubbed it on the upper 
part of his arms and chest. This is a common mode 
of salutation in Londa ; and when they wish to be ex- 
ii 



162 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

cessively polite, they bring a quantity of ashes or pipe- 
clay in a piece of skin, and, taking up handfuls, rub it 
on the chest and upper front part of each arm ; others, 
in saluting, drum their ribs with their elbows ; while 
others still touch the ground with one cheek after the 
other, and clap their hands. The chiefs go through 
the manoeuvre of rubbing the sand on the arms, but 
only make a feint at picking up some. When Sam- 
banza had finished his oration, he rose up, and showed 
his ankles ornamented with a bundle of copper rings ; 
had they been very heavy, they would have made him 
adopt a straggling walk. Some chiefs have really so 
many as to be forced, by the weight and size, to keep 
one foot apart from the other, the weight being a 
serious inconvenience in walking. 

" Manenko gave us some manioc roots in the morn- 
ing, and had determined to carry our baggage to her 
uncle's, Kabompo or Shinte. We had heard a sample 
of what she could do with her tongue ; and as neither 
my men nor myself had much inclination to encounter 
a scolding from this black Mrs. Caudle, we made ready 
the packages ; but she came and said the men whom 
she had ordered for the service had not yet come; 
they would arrive to-morrow. Being on low and dis- 
agreeable diet, I felt annoyed at this further delay, and 
ordered the packages to be put into the canoes to pro- 
ceed up the river without her servants ; but Manenko 
was not to be circumvented in this way ; she came for- 
ward with her people, and said her uncle would be 
angry if she did not carry forward the tusks and goods 
of Sekeletu, seized the luggage, and declared that she 
would carry it in spite of me. My men succumbed 



UP THE LEEBA RIVER. 163 

sooner to this petticoat government than I felt inclined 
to do, and left me no power ; and, being unwilling to 
encounter her tongue, I was moving off to the canoes, 
when she gave me a kind explanation, and, with her 
hand on my shoulder, put on a motherly look, saying, 
' Now, my little man, just do as the rest have done.' 
My feelings of annoyance of course vanished, and I 
went out to try and get some meat/. 

" On starting, the morning of the 11th, Samoana (or 
rather Myamoana, for the ladies are the chiefs here) 
presented a string of beads, and a shell highly valued 
among them, as an atonement for having assisted 
Manenko, as they thought to vex me the day before. 
They seemed anxious to avert any evil which might 
arise from my displeasure ; but having replied that I 
never kept my anger up all night, they w T ere much 
pleased to see me satisfied. We had to cross, in a 
canoe, a stream which flows past the village of Nya- 
moana. Manenko's doctor waved some charms over 
her, and she took some in her hand and on her body 
before she ventured upon the water. One of my men 
spoke rather loudly when near the doctor's basket of 
medicines. The doctor reproved him, and always 
spoke in a whisper himself, glancing back to the basket 
as if afraid of being heard by something therein. So 
much superstition is quite unknown in the south, and 
is mentioned here to show the difference in the feelings 
of this new people, and the comparative want of rever- 
ence on these points among Kaffers and Bechuanas. 

" Manenko was accompanied by her husband and 
her drummer ; the latter continued to thump most 
vigorously until a heavy, drizzling mist set in and com- 



164 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

pelled him to desist. Her husband used various incan- 
tations and vociferations to drive away the rain, but 
down it poured incessantly, and on our Amazon went, 
in the very lightest marching order, and at a pace that 
few of the men could keep up with. Being on ox- 
back, I kept pretty close to our leader, and asked her 
why she did not clothe herself during the rain, and 
learned that it is not considered proper for a chief to 
appear effeminate. He or she must always wear the 
appearance of robust youth, and bear vicissitudes with- 
out wincing. My men, in admiration of her pedestrian 
powers, every now and then remarked, ' Manenko is a 
soldier ; ' and thoroughly wet and cold, we were all 
glad w r hen she proposed a halt to prepare our night's 
lodging on the banks of a stream. 

" The forests became more dense as we went 
north. We travelled much more in the deep gloom of 
the forest than in open sunlight. No passage existed 
on either side of the narrow path made by the axe. 
Large climbing plants entwined themselves around the 
trunks and branches of gigantic trees like boa con- 
strictors, and they often do constrict the trees by which 
they rise, and, killing them, stand erect themselves. 
The bark of a tine tree found in abundance here, and 
called ' motuia,' is used by the Barotse for making fish- 
lines and nets, and the ' molompi,' so well adapted for 
paddles by its lightness and flexibility, was abund- 
ant. There were other trees quite new to my compan- 
ions ; many of them ran up to a height of fifty feet of 
one thickness, and without branches. 

" The number of little villages seemed about equal 
to the number of valleys. At some we stopped and 



UP THE LEEBA RIVER. 165 

rested, the people becoming more liberal as we ad- 
vanced. Others we found deserted, a sudden panic 
having seized the inhabitants, though the drum of 
Manenko was kept beaten pretty constantly, in order 
to give notice of the approach of great people. When 
we had decided to remain for the night at any village, 
the inhabitants lent us the roofs of their huts, which in 
form resemble those of the Makololo, or a Chinaman's 
hat, and can be taken off the walls at pleasure. They 
lifted them off, and brought them to the spot we had 
selected as our lodging, and, when my men had propped 
them up with stakes, they were then safely housed for 
the night. Every one who comes to salute either 
Manenko or ourselves rubs the upper parts of the arms 
and chest with ashes ; those w^ho wish to show pro- 
founder reverence put some also on the face. 

" We found that every village had its idols near it. 
This is the case all through the country of the Balonda, 
so that, when we came to an idol in the woods, we 
always knew that we were within a quarter of an hour 
of human habitations. One very ugly idol we passed 
rested on a horizontal beam placed on two upright 
posts. This beam was furnished with two loops of 
cord, as of a chain, to suspend offerings before it. On 
remarking to my companions that these idols had ears, 
but that they heard not, etc., I learned that the Balon- 
da, and even the Barotse, believe that divination may 
be performed by means of these blocks of wood and 
clay ! and though the wood itself could not hear, the 
owners had medicines by which it could be made to 
hear and give responses, so that if an enenry were ap- 
proaching they would have full information. 



166 TEA VELS IN SO UTH AFRICA. 

" While delayed, by Manenko's management, 
among the Balonda villages, a little to the south of the 
town of Shinte, we were well supplied by the villagers 
with sweet potatoes and green maize ; Sambanza went 
to his mother's village for supplies of other food. I 
was laboring under fever, and did not find it very dif- 
ficult to exercise patience with her whims ; but it being 
Saturday, I thought we might as well go to the town 
for Sunday (15th). ' No ; her messenger must return 
from her uncle first.' Being sure that the answer of 
the uncle would be favorable, I thought we might go 
on at once, and not lose two days in the same spot. 
< No, it is our custom ; ' and everything else I could 
urge was answered in the genuine pertinacious lady 
style. She ground some meal for me with her own 
hands, and when she brought it told me she had actu- 
ally gone to a village and begged corn for the purpose. 
She said this with an air as if the inference must be 
drawn by even a stupid white man : ' I know how to 
manage, don't I ? ' It was refreshing to get food which 
could be eaten without producing the unpleasantness 
described by the Bev. John Newton, of St. Mary's, 
Woolnoth, London, when obliged to eat the same roots 
while a slave in the West Indies. The day (January 
14), for a wonder, was fair, and the sun shone, so as to 
allow us to dry our clothing and other goods, many of 
which were mouldy and rotten from the long-continued 
damp. The guns rusted, in spite of being oiled every 
evening;. 

" During the night we were all awakened by a ter- 
rific shriek from one of Manenko's ladies. She piped 
out so loud and long that we all imagined she had been 



UP THE LEEBA RIVER. \^ 

seized by a lion, and my men snatched up their arms, 
which they always place so as to be ready at a mo- 
ment's notice, and ran to the rescue ; but we found 
the alarm had been caused by one of the oxen thrust- 
ing his head into her hut and smelling her : she had 
put her hand on his cold, wet nose, and thought it 
was all over with her. 

" On Sunday afternoon messengers arrived from 
Shinte, expressing his approbation of the objects we 
had in view in our journey through the country, and 
that he was glad of the prospect of a way being 
opened by which white men might visit him, and 
allow him to purchase ornaments at pleasure. Ma- 
nenko now threatened in sport to go on, and I soon 
afterward perceived that what now seemed to me the 
dilly-dallying way of this lady w r as the proper mode 
of making acquaintance with the Balonda ; and much 
of the favor with which I was received in different 
places was owing to my sending forward messengers 
to state the object of our coming before entering each 
town and village. When we came in sight of a village 
we sat down under the shade of a tree and sent for- 
ward a man to give notice who we were and what 
were our objects. The head man of the village then 
sent out his principal men, as Shinte now did, to bid 
us welcome and show us a tree under which we might 
sleep. Before I had profited by the rather tedious 
teaching of Manenko, I sometimes entered a villagu 
and created unintentional alarm. 

" Our friends informed us that Shinte would be 
highly honored by the presence of three white men 
in his town at once. Two others had sent forward 



168 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

notice of their approach from another quarter (the 
west) ; could it be Barth or Krapf ? How pleasant to 
meet with Europeans in such an out-of-the-way region ! 
The rush of thoughts made me almost forget my 
fever. Are they of the same color as I am ? ' Yes ; 
exactly so.' And have the same hair ? ' Is that hair ? 
we thought it was a wig ; we never saw the like 
before ; this white man must be of the sort that lives 
in the sea.' Henceforth my men took the hint, and 
always sounded my praises as a true specimen of the 
variety of white men who live in the sea. ' Only 
look at his hair; it is made quite straight by the 
sea-water ! ' 

" As the strangers had. woolly hair like themselves, 
I had to give up the idea of meeting anything more 
European than two half-caste Portuguese, engaged in 
trading for slaves, ivory and bees' -wax. 

a After a short march on the 16th, we came to a 
most lovely valley about a mile and a half wide, and 
stretching away eastward up to a low prolongation of 
Monakadzi. A small stream meanders down the cen- 
tre of this pleasant green glen : and on a little rill, 
which flows into it from the western side, stands the 
town of Kabompo, or, as he likes best to be called, 
Shinte. (Lat. 12° 37' S., Long. 22° 47' E.) When 
Manenko thought the sun was high enough for us to 
make a lucky entrance, we found the town embowered 
in banana and other tropical trees having great expan- 
sion of leaf; the streets are straight, and present a 
complete contrast to those of the Bechuanas, which are 
all very tortuous. Here, too, we first saw native huts 
with square walls and round roofs. The fences or walls 



UP THE LEEBA RIVER. 163 

of the courts which surround the huts are wonderfully 
straight, and made of upright poles a few inches apart, 
with strong grass or leafy bushes neatly woven between. 
In the courts were small plantations of tobacco, and a 
little solanaceous plant which the Balonda use as a rel- 
ish ; also sugar-cane and bananas. 

" We were honored next day with a grand recep- 
tion by Shinte about eleven o'clook/ Sambanza claimed 
the honor of presenting us, Manenko being slightly 
indisposed. The kotla, or place of audience, was about 
a hundred yards square, and two graceful specimens 
of a species of banian stood near one end ; under one 
of these sat Shinte, on a sort of throne covered with a 
leopard's skin. He had on a checked jacket, and a 
kilt of scarlet baize edged with green ; many strings 
of large beads hung from his neck, and his limbs were 
covered with iron and copper armlets and bracelets ; 
on his head he wore a helmet made of beads woven 
neatly together, and crowned with a great bunch of 
goose-feathers. Close to him sat three lads with large 
sheaves of arrows over their shoulders. 

" When we entered the kotla, the whole of Manen- 
ko's party saluted Shinte by clapping their hands, and 
Sambanza did obeisance by rubbing his chest and arms 
with ashes. One of the trees being unoccupied, I re- 
treated to it for the sake of the shade, and my whole 
party did the same. We were now about forty yards 
from the chief, and could see the whole ceremony. The 
different sections of the tribe came forward in the same 
way that we did, the head man of each making obei- 
sance with ashes which he carried with him for the pur- 
pose ; then came the soldiers, all armed to the teeth, run- 



1 70 TRA VELS IN SO UTH AFRICA, 

ning and shouting toward us, with their swords drawn, 
and their faces screwed up so as to appear as savage as 
possible, for the purpose, I thought, of trying whether 
they could not make us take to our heels. As we did 
not, they turned round toward Shinte and saluted him, 
then retired. When all had come and were seated, then 
began the curious capering usually seen in pichos. A 
man starts up, and imitates the most approved attitudes 
observed in actual fight, as throwing one javelin, receiv- 
ing another on the shield, springing to one side to avoid 
a third, running backward, or forward, leaping, etc. 
This over, Sambanza and the spokesman of Nyamoana 
stalked backward and forward in front of Shinte, and 
gave forth, in a loud voice, all they had been able to 
learn, either from myself or people, of my past history 
and connection with the Makololo ; the return of the 
captives ; the wish to open the country to trade ; the 
Bible as a word from heaven ; the white man's desire 
for the tribes to live in peace : he ought to have taught 
the Makololo that first, for the Balonda never attacked 
them, yet they had assailed the Balonda : perhaps he 
is fibbing, perhaps not ; they rather thought he was ; 
but as the Balonda had good hearts, and Shinte had 
never done harm to any one, he had better receive the 
white man well, and send him on his way. 

" "When nine speakers had concluded their orations, 
Shinte stood up, and so did all the people. He had 
maintained true African dignity of manner all the 
while, but my people remarked that he scarcely ever 
took his eyes off me for a moment. About a thousand 
people were present, according to my calculation, and 
three hundred soldiers. The sun had now become 



UP THE LEEBA RIVER. Yl\ 

hot ; and the scene ended by the Mambari discharging 
their guns. 

" We were awakened the following night by a 
message from Shinte, requesting a visit at a very un- 
seasonable hour. As I was just in the sweating stage 
of an intermittent, and the path to the town lay 
through a wet valley, I declined going. Kolimbota, 
who knows their customs best, urged me to go ; but, 
independent of sickness, I hated words of the night 
and deeds of darkness. ' I was neither a hyena nor a 
witch.' Kolimbota thought that we ought to conform 
to their wishes in everything : I thought we ought to 
have some choice in the matter as well, which put him 
into high dudgeon. However, at ten next morning 
we went, and were led into the courts of Shinte, the 
walls of which were woven rods, all very neat and 
high. Many trees stood within the in closure, and 
afforded a grateful shade. These had been planted, 
for we saw some recently put in, with grass wound 
round the trunk to protect them from the sun. The 
otherwise waste corners of the streets were planted 
with sugar-cane and bananas, which spread their large 
light leaves over the walls. 

" The Ficus Indica tree, under which we now sat, 
had very large leaves, but showed its relationship to 
the Indian banian by sending down shoots toward 
the ground. Shinte soon came, and appeared a man 
of upward of fifty-five years of age, of frank and open 
countenance, and about the middle height. He seemed 
in good humor, and said he had expected yesterday 
1 that a man who came from the gods would have 
approached and talked to him.' That had been my 



172 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 

own intention in going to the reception ; but when 
we came and saw the formidable preparations, and all 
his own men keeping at least forty yards off from him, 
I yielded to the solicitations of my men, and remained 
by the tree opposite to that under which he sat. His 
remark confirmed my previous belief that a frank, 
open, fearless, manner is the most winning with all 
these Africans. I stated the object of my journey and 
mission, and to all I advanced the old gentleman clap- 
ped his hands in approbation. He replied through a 
spokesman; then all the company joined in the re- 
sponse by clapping of hands, too. 

" After the more serious business was over, I 
asked if he had ever seen a white man before. He 
replied, 'Never; you are the very first I have seen 
with a white skin and straight hair; your clothing, 
too, is different from any we have ever seen.' They 
had been visited by native Portuguese and Mambari 
only. 

" On learning from some of the people that 
' Shinte's mouth was bitter for want of tasting ox- 
flesh,' I presented him with an ox, to his great de- 
light ; and, as his country is so well adapted for cattle, 
I advised him to begin a trade in cows with the 
Makololo. He w T as pleased w T ith the idea, and when 
we returned from Loanda, we found that he had prof- 
ited by the hint, for he had got three, and one of 
them justified my opinion of the country, for it was 
more like a prize heifer for fatness than any we had 
seen in Africa. He soon afterward sent us a basket 
of green maize boiled, another of manioc-meal, and a 
small fowl. 



UP THE LEEBA RIVER. 173 

" I was awakened at an early hour by a messenger 
from Shinte ; but the thirst of a raging fever being 
just assuaged by the bursting forth of a copious per- 
spiration, I declined going for a few hours. Yiolent 
action of the heart all the way to the town did not 
predispose me to be patient with the delay which 
then occurred, probably on account of the divination 
being unfavorable : ' They could/ not find Shinte.' 
When I returned to bed, another message was re- 
ceived, ' Shinte wished to say all he had to tell me 
at once. 5 This was too tempting an offer, so we went, 
and he had a fowl ready in his hand to present, also a 
basket of manioc-meal, and a calabash of mead. Re- 
ferring to the constantly-recurring attacks of fever, he 
remarked that it was the only thing which would pre- 
vent a successful issue to my journey, for he had men 
to guide me who knew all the paths which led to the 
white men. He had himself travelled far when a 
young man. On asking what he would recommend 
for the fever, ' Drink plenty of the mead, and as it 
gets in, it will drive the fever out.' It w T as rather 
strong, and I suspect he liked the remedy pretty well, 
even though he had no fever. 

u Shinte was most anxious to see the pictures of 
the magic lantern ; but fever had so weakening an ef- 
fect, and I had such violent action of the heart, with 
buzzing in the ears, that I could not go for several 
days ; when I did go for the purpose, he had his prin- 
cipal men and the same crowd of court-beauties near 
him as at the reception. The first picture exhibited 
was Abraham about to slaughter his son Isaac ; it was 
shown as large as life, and the uplifted knife was in 



174 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

the act of striking the lad ; the Balonda men re- 
marked that the picture was much more like a god 
than the things of wood or clay they worshipped. I 
explained that this man was the first of a race to 
whom God had given the Bible we now held, and 
that among his children our Saviour appeared. The 
ladies listened with silent awe ; but, when I moved 
the slide, the uplifted dagger moving toward them, 
they thought it was to be sheathed in their bodies in- 
stead of Isaac's. ' Mother ! mother ! ' all shouted at 
once, and off they rushed helter-skelter, tumbling pell- 
mell over each other, and over the little idol-huts and 
tobacco-bushes : we could not get one of them back 
again. Shinte, however, sat bravely through the 
whole, and afterward examined the instrument with 
interest. An explanation was always added after 
each time of showing its powers, so that no one 
should imagine there was aught supernatural in it ; 
and had Mr. Murray, who kindly brought it from Eng- 
land, seen its popularity among both Makololo and 
Balonda, he would have been gratified with the di- 
rection his generosity then took. It w r as the only 
mode of instruction I was ever pressed to repeat. 
The people came long distances for the express pur- 
pose of seeing the objects and hearing the explana- 
tions." 

Livingstone remained ten days in the town of 
Shinte, resting his party, and making preparations for 
the journey westward towards the Portuguese terri- 
tory. This was likely to be the most hazardous part 
of the trip, since the natives themselves were not 
acquainted with the regions beyond those they in- 



UP THE LEEBA RIVER. 175 

habited. The chief interposed no obstacle, for half- 
breed traders from Loando sometimes reached his 
town ; but he could only furnish guides for a short 
distance. 

" As the last proof of friendship," Livingstone says, 
" Shinte came into my tent, though it could scarcely 
contain more than one person, looked at all the curi- 
osities, the quicksilver, the lookipc^glass, books, hair- 
brushes, comb, watch, etc., etc., with the greatest inter- 
est; then closing the tent, so that none of his own 
people might see the extravagance of which he was 
about to be guilty, he drew out from his clothing a 
string of beads, and the end of a conical shell, which is 
considered, in regions far from the sea, of as great 
value as the Lord Mayor's badge is in London. He 
hung it round rny neck, and said, ' There, now you 
have a proof of my friendship. 5 

" My men informed me that these shells are so 
highly valued in this quarter, as evidences of distinc- 
tion, that for two of them a slave might be bought, 
and five would be considered a handsome price for an 
elephant's tusk worth ten pounds. At our last in- 
terview old Shinte pointed out our principal guide, 
Intemese, a man about fifty, w r ho was, he said, ordered 
to remain by us till we should reach the sea ; that I 
had now left Sekeletu far behind, and must henceforth 
look to Shinte alone for aid, and that it would always 
be most cheerfully rendered. This was only a polite 
way of expressing his wishes for my success. It was 
the good words only of the guides which were to aid me 
from the next chief, Katema, on to the sea ; they were 
to turn back on reaching him ; but he gave a good sup- 



1 76 TRA VELS IN SO UTH AFRICA, 

ply of food for the journey before us, and, after men- 
tioning as a reason for letting us go even now that no 
one could say we had been driven away from the town, 
since we had been several days with him, he gave a 
most hearty salutation, and we parted with the wish 
that God might bless him." 



CHAPTER XL 

Livingstone's journey across the continent. 

j 
iv. erom shinte to^oanda. 

THE party left the town of Shinte on the 26th of 
January, with eight of the chief's men to assist 
in carrying their luggage. We continue the narrative 
in Livingstone's words : 

" We passed, in a northerly direction, down the 
lovely valley on w^hich the town stands, then went a 
little to the west through pretty open forest, and slept 
at a village of Balonda. In the morning we had a 
fine range of green hills, called Saloisho, on our right, 
and were informed that they were rather thickly in- 
habited by the people of Shinte, who worked in iron, 
the ore of which abounds in these hills. 

" The country through which we passed possessed 
<;he same general character of flatness and forest that 
we noticed before. The soil is dark, with a tinge of 
red — in some places it might be called red — and ap- 
peared very fertile. Every valley contained villages 
of twenty or thirty huts, with gardens of manioc, 
which here is looked upon as the staff of life. Very 
little labor is required for its cultivation. 

" Our chief guide, Intemese, sent orders to all the 
villages around our route that Shinte's friends must 
have abundance of provisions. Our progress was 
12 



178 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

impeded by the time requisite for communicating the 
chiefs desire and consequent preparation of meal. 
We received far more food from Shinte's people than 
from himself. Kapende, for instance, presented two 
large baskets of meal, three of manioc roots steeped 
and dried in the sun and ready to be converted into 
flour, three fowls, and seven eggs, with three smoke- 
dried fishes ; and others gave with similar liberality. 
I gave to the head men small bunches of my stock of 
beads, with an apology that we were now on our way 
to the market for these goods. The present was al- 
ways politely received. 

"¥e had an opportunity of observing that our 
guides had much more etiquette than any of the tribes 
farther south. They gave us food, but would not par- 
take of it when we had cooked it, nor would they eat 
their own food in our presence. When it was cooked 
they retired into a thicket and ate their porridge; 
then all stood up, and clapped their hands, and praised 
Intemese for it. The Makololo, who are accustomed 
to the most free-and-easy manners, held out handfuls 
of what they had cooked to any of the Balonda near, 
but they refused to taste. They are very punctilious 
in their manners to each other. Each hut has its own 
lire, and when it goes out they make it afresh for 
themselves rather than take it from a neighbor. I 
believe much of this arises from superstitious fears. 
In the deep, dark forests near each village, as already 
mentioned, you see idols intended to represent the 
human head or a lion, or a crooked stick smeared with 
medicine, or simply a small pot of medicine in a little- 
shed, or miniature huts with little mounds of earth 



FROM SHINTE TO LOANDA. 179 

in them. But in the darker recesses we meet with 
human faces cut in the bark of trees, the outlines of 
which, with the beards, closely resemble those seen 
on Egyptian monuments." 

After a journey of five days they reached the Leeba 
river, which Livingstone found to be considerably 
smaller than at the point where he left it. A village 
on the bank lent his men two canpes for the crossing, 
which occupied four hours, although the stream was 
only about a hundred yards wide. The latitude of 
the point was 12° 6 7 S. Beyond the Leeba, they came 
upon a plain, twenty miles wide, and flooded with 
water. The heavy tropical rains continued, and the 
path for several days was such a succession of quag- 
mires and pools that their progress was very slow. 
At night they were obliged to seek some little hillock 
or mound, above the general inundation, for an en- 
campment. 

This region is threaded by many branches of the 
Leeba, some of which, as there were no canoes, the 
party was obliged to ford, the water often covering all 
of the oxen except their lifted heads. Livingstone 
was obliged to carry his watch in his arm-pit, as the 
only place where it could be kept dry. The guides 
furnished by Shinte had orders to conduct him to the 
town of a chief named Katema, and on the 7th of Feb- 
ruary, he reached a village belonging to that chiefs 
brother. The latter said that the white man was wel- 
come, but was much disturbed by the presence of the 
Makololo. However, he seemed much more anxious 
to receive presents than to furnish provisions. 

For five or six days longer the party were led, 



180 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

through the tricks of Shinte's guide, who wished to 
derive some profit for himself from the journey, from 
one village to another. Fortunately, some of the chiefs 
were more generous than the first, and the men were 
at last tolerably well supplied with food. On the 13th 
of February they crossed the river Lotembwa, the last 
of the affluents of the Leeba, after which — to return to 
Livingstone's narrative — " we travelled about eight 
miles, and came to Katema' s straggling town (lat. 11° 
35 ' S., long. 22° 27' E.). It is more a collection of 
villages than a town. We were led out about half a 
mile from the houses, that we might make for our- 
selves the best lodging we could of the trees and grass, 
while Intemese was taken to Katema to undergo the 
usual process of pumping as to our past conduct and 
professions. Katema soon afterward sent a handsome 
present of food. 

"Next morning we had a formal presentation, 
and found Katema seated on a sort of throne, with 
about three hundred men on the ground around, and 
thirty women, who were said to be his wives, close 
behind him. The main body of the people were 
seated in a semicircle, at a distance of fifty yards. 
Each party had its own head-man stationed at a little 
distance in front, and, when beckoned by the chief, 
came near him as councilors. Intemese gave our 
history, and Katema placed sixteen large baskets of 
meal before us, half-a-dozen fowls, and a dozen eggs, 
and expressed regret that we had slept hungry : he 
did not like any stranger to suffer want in his town ; 
and added, ' Go home, and cook and eat, and you will 
then be in a fit state to speak to me at an audience I 



FROM SHINTE TO LOANDA. 181 

will give you to-morrow.' He was busily engaged in 
hearing the statements of a large body of fine young 
men who had fled from Kangenke, chief of Lobale, 
on account of his selling their relatives to the native 
Portuguese who frequent his country. Katema is a 
tall man, about forty years of age, and his head was 
ornamented with a helmet of beads and feathers. He 
had on a snuff-brown coat, with a broad band of tinsel 
down the arms, and carried in ms hand a large tail 
made of the caudal extremities of a number of gnus. 
This has charms attached to it, and he continued 
waving it in front of himself all the time we were 
there. He seemed in good spirits, laughing heartily 
several times. This is a good sign, for a man who 
shakes his sides with mirth is seldom difficult to deal 
with. When we rose to take leave, all rose with us, 
as at Shinte's. 

" Returning next morning, Katema addressed me 
thus : i I am the great Moene (lord) Katema, the fel- 
low of Matiamvo. There is no one in the country 
equal to Matiamvo and me. I have always lived here, 
and my forefathers too. There is the house in which 
my father lived. You found no human skulls near 
the place where you are encamped. I never killed 
any of the traders ; they all come to me. I am the 
great Moene Katema, of whom you have heard.' He 
looked as if he had fallen asleep tipsy, and dreamed 
of his greatness. On explaining my objects to him, 
he promptly pointed out three men who would be our 
guides, and explained that the north-west path was the 
most direct, and that by which all traders came, but 
that the water at present standing on the plains would 



182 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

reach up to the loins; he would therefore send us by 
a more northerly route, which no trader had yet 
traversed. This was more suited to our wishes, for 
we never found a path safe that had been trodden by 
slave-traders. 

" We presented a few articles, which pleased him 
highly : a small shawl, a razor, three bunches of beads, 
some buttons, and a powder-horn. Apologizing for 
the insignificance of the gift, I wished to know what I 
could bring him from Loanda, saying, not a large 
thing, but something small. He laughed heartily at 
the limitation, and replied, ' Everything of the white 
people would be acceptable, and he would receive any 
thing thankfully; but the coat he then had on was 
old, and he would like another.' I introduced the 
subject of the Bible, but one of the old councilors 
broke in, told all he had picked up from the Mambari, 
and glided off into several other subjects. It is a 
misery to speak through an interpreter, as I was now 
forced to do. With a body of men like mine, com- 
posed as they were of six different tribes, and all 
speaking the language of the Bechuanas, there was no 
difficulty in communicating on common subjects with 
any tribe we came to ; but doling out a story in wmich 
they felt no interest, and which I understood only suf- 
ficiently well to perceive that a mere abridgement was 
given, was uncommonly slow work. Neither could 
Katema's attention be arrested, except by compli- 
ments, of which they have always plenty to bestow as 
well as receive. We were strangers, and knew that, as 
Makololo, we had not the best of characters, yet his 
treatment of us was wonderfully good and liberal. 



FROM SHINTE TO LOANDA. 183 

" I complimented him on the possession of cattle, 
and pleased him by telling him how he might milk 
the cows. He has a herd of about thirty, really splen- 
did animals, all reared from two w r hich he bought from 
the Balobale when he was young. They are gener- 
ally of a white color, and are quite wild, running off 
with graceful ease like a herd of elands on the ap- 
proach of a stranger. They excited the unbounded 
admiration of the Makololo, ana clearly proved that 
the country was well adapted for them. When Katema 
wishes to slaughter one, he is obliged to shoot it as if 
it were a buffalo. 

" Katema promised us the aid of some of his people 
as carriers, but his rule is not very stringent or effi- 
cient, for they refused to turn out for the work. They 
were Balobale ; and he remarked on their disobedi- 
ence that, though he received them as fugitives, they 
did not feel grateful enough to obey, and if they con- 
tinued rebellious he must drive them back whence 
they came ; but there is little fear of that, as all the 
chiefs are excessively anxious to collect men in great 
numbers around them. These Balobale would not go, 
though our guide Shakatwala ran after some of them 
with a drawn sword. 

" On Sunday, the 19th, both I and several of our 
party were seized with fever, and I could do nothing 
but toss about in my little tent, with the thermometer 
above 90°, though this was the beginning of winter, 
and my men made as much shade as possible by 
planting branches of trees all around and over it. We 
have, for the first time in my experience in Africa, had 
a cold wind from the north. All the winds from that 



184: TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 

quarter are hot, and those from the south are cold, but 
they seldom blow from either direction. 

"We were glad to get away the next day, though 
not on account of any scarcity of food ; for my men, by 
giving small presents of meat as an earnest of their sin- 
cerity, formed many friendships with the people of Ka- 
tema. We went about four or five miles in a N.N.W. 
direction, then two in a westerly one, and came 
round the small end of Lake Dilolo. It seemed, as far 
as we could at this time discern, to be like a river a 
quarter of a mile wide. It is abundantly supplied with 
fish and hippopotami ; the broad part, which we did 
not this time see, is about three miles wide, and the 
lake is almost seven or eight long. If it be thought 
strange that I did not go a few miles to see the broad 
part, which, according to Katema, had never been vis- 
ited by any of the traders, it must be remembered that 
in consequence of fever I had eaten nothing for two 
entire days, and, instead of sleep, the whole of the 
nights were employed in incessant drinking of water, 
and I was now so glad to get on in the journey and see 
some of my fellow fever-patients crawling along, that 
I could not brook the delay, which astronomical obser- 
vations for accurately determining the geographical 
position of this most interesting spot would have occa- 
sioned." 

Beyond this lake, they crossed a marshy plain, 
twenty miles in breadth. The heavy rains still contin- 
ued, and the feet of the men became sore from wading 
in water and mud among the strong grass. The coun- 
try which followed was under the rule of another chief, 
whom, however, Livingstone did not wait to see. From 



FROM SHINTE TO LOANDA. 185 

this point commenced the territories of small, scattered 
and often hostile tribes, which have been demoralized 
by the slave-trade. 

" On reaching unflooded lands beyond the plain, 
we found the villages there acknowledged the author- 
ity of the chief named Katende, and we discovered, also, 
to our surprise, that the almost level plain we had pas- 
sed forms the water-shed between/ the southern and 
northern rivers, for we had now entered a district in 
which the rivers flowed in a northerly direction into 
the Kasai or Loke, near to which we now were, while 
the rivers we had hitherto crossed were all running 
southward. Having met with kind treatment and aid 
at the first village, Katema's guides returned, and we 
were led to the N.N.W. by the inhabitants, and de- 
scended into the very first really deep valley we had 
seen since leaving Kolobeng. A stream ran along the 
bottom of a slope of three or four hundred yards from 
the plains above." This was crossed by a bridge, and 
also many of the following streams, and at some of 
them the natives demanded toll. 

" Reaching the village of Kabinje, in the evening 
he sent us a present of tobacco, Mutokuane or ' bang' 
(Cannabis sativa), and maize, by the man who went 
forward to announce our arrival, and a message express- 
ing satisfaction at the prospect of having trade with the 
coast. The westing we were making brought us 
among people who are frequently visited by the Mam- 
bari as slave-dealers. This trade causes bloodshed ; 
for when a poor family is selected as the victims, it is 
necessary to get rid of the older members of it, because 
they are supposed to be able to give annoyance to the 



1 86 TRA VELS IN SO UTH AFRICA. 

chief afterward by means of enchantments. The belief 
in the power of charms for good or evil produces not 
only honesty, but a great amount of gentle dealing. 

" When we wished to move on, Kabinje refused a 
guide to the next village because he was at war with 
it ; but, after much persuasion he consented, provided 
that the guide should be allowed to return as soon as 
he came in sight of the enemy's village. This we felt 
to be a misfortune, as the people all suspect a man who 
comes telling his own tale ; but there being no help 
for it, we went on and found the head man of a village 
on the rivulet Kalomba, called Kangenke, a very differ- 
ent man from what his enemy represented. We found, 
too, that the idea of buying and selling took the place 
of giving for friendship. As I had nothing with which 
to purchase food except a parcel of beads which were 
preserved for Worse times, I began to fear that we 
should soon be compelled to suffer more from hunger 
than we had done. The people demanded gunpow- 
der for everything. If we had possessed any quantity 
of that article, we should have got on well, for here 
it is of great value. 

" Kangenke promptly furnished guides on the 27th 
of February, so we went briskly on a short distance, 
and came to a part of the Kasye, Kasai, or Loke, where 
he had appointed two canoes to convey us across. 
This is a most beautiful river, and very much like the 
Clyde in Scotland. The slope of the valley down to 
the stream is about five hundred yards, and finely 
wooded. It is, perhaps, one hundred yards broad, and 
was winding slowly from side to side in the beautiful 
green glen, in a course to the north and north-east. In 



FROM SHINTE TO LOANDA. 187 

both the directions from which it came and to which 
it went it seemed to be alternately embowered in syl- 
van vegetation, or rich meadows covered with tall 
grass. The men pointed out its course, and said, 
i Though you sail along it for months, you will turn 
without seeing the end of it.' 

" We were now in want of food, for, to the great 
surprise of my companions, the people of Kangenke 
gave nothing except by way of sale, and charged the 
most exorbitant prices for the little meal and manioc 
they brought. The only article of barter my men 
had was a little fat saved from the ox we slaughtered 
at Katema's, so I was obliged to give them a portion 
of the stock of beads. One day of westing brought 
us from the Kasai to near the village of Katende, and 
we saw that we were in a land where no hope could 
be entertained of getting supplies of animal food, for 
one of our guides caught a light-blue colored mole and 
two mice for his supper. The care with which he 
wrapped them up in a leaf and slung them on his spear 
told that we could not hope to enjoy any larger game. 
We saw no evidence of any animals besides ; and, on 
coming to the villages beyond this, we often saw boys 
and girls engaged in digging up these tiny quadru- 
peds. 

"Katende sent for me on the day following our 
arrival, and, being quite willing to visit him, I walked, 
for this purpose, about three miles from our encamp- 
ment. When we approached the village we were 
desired to enter a hut, and, as it was raining at the 
time, we did so. After a long time ' spent in giving 
and receiving messages from the great man, we were 



188 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

told that he wanted either a man, a tusk, beads, copper 
rings, or a shell, as payment for leave to pass through 
his country. No one, we were assured, was allowed 
that liberty, or even to behold him, without something 
of the sort being presented. Having humbly ex- 
plained our circumstances, and that he could not 
expect to ' catch a humble cow by the horns' — a prov- 
erb similar to ours that ' you can't draw milk out of a 
stone' — we were told to go home, and he would speak 
again to us next day. I could not avoid a hearty 
laugh at the cool impudence of the savage, and made 
the best of my way home in the still pouring rain. 
My men were rather nettled at this want of hospi- 
tality, but, after talking over the matter with one of 
Katende's servants, he proposed that some small article 
should be given, and an attempt made to please Ka- 
tende. I turned out m.j shirts, and selected the worst 
one as a sop for him, and invited Katende to come 
and choose anything else I had." 

It was with some difficulty that the party got away 
from this unfriendly and avaricious chief. When the 
villages were fairly behind them, the native guides 
declared that they did not know the country, and left 
Livingstone to push forward at random in the direc- 
tion of Loanda. The first day they came to a valley, 
a mile wide, entirely covered with water to the depth 
of four or five feet, — an experience which was fre- 
quently renewed during the following days. One of 
these adventures is thus described : 

"In the afternoon we came to another stream, 
nuana Loke (or child of Loke), with a bridge over it. 
The men had to swim off to each end of the bridge, 



FROM SHINTE TO LOANDA. 189 

and when on it were breast deep ; some preferred 
holding on by the tails of the oxen the whole way 
across. I intended to do this, too ; but, riding to the 
deep part, before I could dismount and seize the helm 
the ox dashed off with his companions, and his body 
sank so deep that I failed in my attempt even to catch 
the blanket belt, and if I pulled the bridle the ox 
seemed as if he would come backward upon me, so 
I struck out for the opposite bank alone. My poor 
fellows were dreadfully alarmed when they saw me 
parted from the cattle, and about twenty of them 
made a simultaneous rush into the water for my res- 
cue, and just as I reached the opposite bank one seized 
my arm, and another threw his around my body. 
When I stood up, it was most gratifying to see them 
all struggling toward me. Some had leaped off the 
bridge, and allowed their cloaks to float down the 
stream. Part of my goods, abandoned in the hurry, 
were brought up from the bottom after I was safe. 
Great was the pleasure expressed when they found 
that I could swim, like themselves, without the aid of 
a tail, and I did and do feel grateful to these poor 
heathens for the promptitude with which they dashed 
in to save, as they thought, my life. I found my 
clothes cumbersome in the water ; they could swim 
quicker from being naked. They swim like dogs, not 
frog-fashion, as we do. 

" The amount of population in the central parts of 
the country may be called large only as compared 
with the Cape Colony or the Bechuana country. The 
cultivated land is as nothing compared with what might 
be brought under the plough. There are flowing 



190 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

streams in abundance, which, were it necessary, could 
be turned to the purpose of irrigation with but little 
labor. Miles of fruitful country are now lying abso- 
lutely waste, for there is not even "game to eat off the 
fine pasturage, and to recline under the evergreen, 
shady groves which we are ever passing in our pro- 
gress. The people who inhabit the central region are 
not all quite black in color. Many incline to that of 
bronze, and others are as light in hue as the Bush- 
men, who, it may be remembered, afford a proof that 
heat alone does not cause blackness, but that heat and 
moisture combined do very materially deepen the 
color." 

On the 4th of March they reached the country of 
the Chiboque, a fierce, plundering tribe, who would 
have attacked them but for Livingstone's courage and 
self-possession. He finally succeeded in making a 
temporary truce by the present of one of his few re- 
maining oxen. The supplies were growing small, and 
the insolent demands of the natives increased, so that 
it became a question whether he could succeed in 
crossing the comparatively narrow strip of territory 
which separated him from the Portuguese outposts. 

"We were informed," says Livingstone, "that the 
people on the west of the Chiboque were familiar 
with the visits of slave-traders ; and it was the opinion 
of our guides that so many of my companions would 
be demanded from me, in the same manner as these 
people had done, that I should reach the coast without 
a single attendant ; I therefore resolved to alter our 
course and strike away to the N.N.E., in the hope 
that at some point farther north I might find an exit 



FROM SH1NTE TO LOANDA. 191 

to the Portuguese settlement of Cassange. We pro- 
ceeded at first due north, with the Kasabi villages on 
our right, and the Kasau on our left. During the first 
twenty miles we crossed many small, but now swollen 
streams, having the usual boggy banks, and wherever 
the water had stood for any length of time it was dis- 
colored with rust of iron. We saw a ' nakong ' ante- 
lope one day, a rare sight in this quarter ; and many 
new and pretty flowers adorned the valleys. 

a In passing through the narrow paths of the for- 
ests I had an opportunity of observing the peculiarities 
of my ox ' Sinbad.' He had a softer back than the 
others, but a much more intractable temper. His 
horns were bent downward and hung loosely, so he 
could do no harm with them : but as we wended our 
way slowly along the narrow path, he would suddenly 
dart aside. A string tied to a stick put through the 
cartilage of the nose serves instead of a bridle : if you 
jerk this back, it makes him run faster on ; if you pull 
it to one side, he allows the nose and head to go, but 
keeps the opposite eye directed to the forbidden spot, 
and goes in spite of you. The only way he can be 
brought to a stand is by a stroke with a wand across 
the nose. When Sinbad ran in below a climber 
stretched over the path so low that I could not stoop 
under it, I was dragged off and came down on the 
crown of my head ; and he never allowed an opportu- 
nity of the kind to pass without trying to inflict a 
kick, as if I neither had nor deserved his love. 

" On Friday, the 23d of March, we came to a vil- 
lage of civil people on the banks of a river called 
the Loajima, and we were wet all day in consequence 



192 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

of crossing it. The bridges over it, and another 
stream which we crossed at midday, were submerged, 
as we have hitherto invariabty found, by a flood of 
perfectly clear water. At the second ford we were 
met by a hostile party who refused us further passage. 
I ordered my men to proceed in the same direction we 
had been pursuing, but our enemies spread themselves 
out in front of us with loud cries. Our numbers 
were about equal to theirs this time, so I moved on at 
the head of my men. Some ran off to other villages, 
or back to their own village, on pretense of getting 
ammunition ; others called out that all traders came 
to them, and that we must do the same. As these 
people had plenty of iron-headed arrows and some 
guns, when we came to the edge of the forest I or- 
dered my men to put the luggage in our centre ; and, 
if our enemies did not fire, to cut down some young 
trees and make a screen as quickly as possible, but do 
nothing to them except in case of actual attack. I 
then dismounted, and, advancing a little toward our 
principal opponent, showed him how easily I could 
kill him, but pointed upward, saying, ' I fear God.' 
He did the same, placing his hand on his heart, point- 
ing upward, and saying, ' I fear to kill ; but come to 
our village ; come — do come.' At this juncture, the 
old head man, Ionga Panza, a venerable negro, came 
up, and I invited him and all to be seated, that we 
might talk the matter over. Ionga Panza soon let us 
know that he thought himself very ill-treated in being 
passed by. As most skirmishes arise from misunder- 
standing, this might have been a serious one ; for, like 
all the tribes near the Portuguese settlements, people 



FROM SHINTE TO LOANDA. 193 

here imagine that they have a right to demand pay- 
ment from every one who passes through the country ; 
and now, though Ionga Panza was certainly no match 
for my men, yet they were determined not to forego 
their right without a struggle. I removed with my 
men to the vicinity of the village, thankful that no 
accident had as yet brought us into actual collision. 

" Ionga Panza's sons agreed to act as guides into 
the territory of the Portuguese if I would give them 
the shell given by Shinte. I was strongly averse to 
this, and especially to give it beforehand, but yielded 
to the entreaty of my people to appear as if showing 
confidence in these hopeful youths. They urged that 
they wished to leave the shell with their wives, as a 
sort of payment to them for enduring their husband's 
absence so long. Having delivered the precious shell, 
we went west-by-north to the river Chikapa, which 
here (lat. 10° 22 ' S.) is forty or fifty yards wide, and at 
present was deep ; it was seen flowing over a rocky, 
broken cataract with great noise about half a mile 
above our ford. We were ferried over in a canoe, made 
out of a single piece of bark sewed together at the ends, 
and having sticks placed in it at different parts to act 
as ribs. 

" Next morning our guides went only about a mile, 
and then told us they would return home. I expected 
this when paying them beforehand, in accordance with 
the entreaties of the Makololo, who are rather ignorant 
of the world. Very energetic remonstrances were ad- 
dressed to the guides, but they slipped off one by one 
in the thick forest through which we were passing, and 
I was glad to hear my companions coming to the con- 
13 



1 9 4: TRA VELS IN SO UTH AFRICA . 

elusion that, as we were now in parts visited by trad- 
ers, we did not require the guides, whose chief use had 
been to prevent misapprehension of our objects in the 
minds of the villagers. The country was somewhat 
more undulating now than it had been, and several 
fine small streams flowed in deep woody dells. The 
trees are very tall and straight, and the forests gloomy 
and damp ; the ground in these solitudes is quite cov- 
ered with yellow and brown mosses, and light-colored 
lichens clothe all the trees. 

" The village on the river Kweelo, at which we 
spent Sunday, was that of a civil, lively old man, called 
Sakandala, who offered no objections to our progress. 
We found we should soon enter on the territory of 
the Bashinje (Ohinge of the Portuguese). Rains and 
fever, as usual, helped to impede our progress until we 
were put on the path which leads from Cassange and 
Bihe to Matiamvo, by a head man named Kamboela. 
This w^as a well-beaten footpath, and soon after entering 
upon it we met a party of half-caste traders from Bihe, 
who confirmed the information we had already got of 
this path leading straight to Cassange. They kindly 
presented my men with some tobacco, and marveled 
greatly when they found that I had never been able to 
teach myself to smoke. 

" As we were now alone, and sure of being on the 
way to the abodes of civilization, we went on briskly. 

" On the 30th we came to a sudden descent from 
the high land, indented by deep, narrow valleys, over 
which we had lately been travelling. It is generally 
so steep that it can only be descended at particular 
points, and even there I was obliged to dismount, 



FROM SHINTE TO LOANDA. 195 

though so weak that I had to be led by my compan- 
ions to prevent my toppling over in walking down. It 
was annoying to feel myself so helpless, for I never liked 
to see a man, either sick or well, giving in effeminately. 
Below us lay the valley of the Quango. If you sit on 
the spot where Mary Queen of Scots viewed the battle 
of Langside, and look down on the vale of Clyde, you 
may see in miniature the glorious sight which a much 
greater and richer valley presented to our view. It is 
about a hundred miles broad, clothed with dark forest, 
except where the light green grass covers meadow- 
lands on the Quango, which here and there glances out 
in the sun as it wends its way to the north. The 
opposite side of this great valley appears like a range 
of lofty mountains, and the descent into it about a 
mile, which, measured perpendicularly, may be from 
a thousand to twelve hundred feet. * Emerging from 
the gloomy forests of Londa, this magnificent prospect 
made us all feel as if a weight had been lifted off our 
eyelids. A cloud was passing across the middle of the 
valley, from which rolling thunder pealed, while above 
all was glorious sunlight ; and when we went down to 
the part where we saw it passing, we found that a very 
heavy thunder-shower had fallen under the path of the 
cloud ; and the bottom of the valley, which from above 
seemed quite smooth, we discovered to be intersected 
and furrowed by great numbers of deep-cut streams. 

They now entered the territory of the Bashinge, 
the chief of whom sent a demand for a man, an ox, or 
an elephant's tusk. This was refused, and of course no 
food could be expected. The chief afterwards came 
himself, and after a long conversation threatened to pre- 



196 TRA VELS IN SO UTH AFRICA. 

vent the further progress of the party. The next 
morning they started very early, in a heavy rain, pass- 
ing the village without molestation, and kept on, in a 
half-famished condition. 

" Hunger," Livingstone remarks, " has a powerful 
effect on the temper. When we had got a good meal 
of meat, we could all bear the petty annoyances of 
these borderers on the more civilized region in front 
with equanimity : but having suffered considerably of 
late, we were all rather soured in our feelings, and not 
unfrequently I overheard my companions remark in 
their own tongue, in answer to threats of attack, 
' That's what we want : only begin them ; ' or with 
clenched teeth they would exclaim to each other, 
' These things have never travelled, and they do not 
know what men are.' The worrying, of which I give 
only a slight sketch, had considerable influence on my 
own mind, and more especially as it was impossible to 
make any allowance for the Bashinje, such as I was 
willing to award to the Chiboque. They saw that we 
had nothing to give, nor would they be benefited in 
the least by enforcing the impudent order to return 
whence we had come. They were adding insult to in- 
jury, and this put us all into a fighting spirit, and, as 
nearly as we could judge, we expected to be obliged to 
cut our way through the Bashinje." 

On reaching the river before them, which the 
natives called the Quango (Congo?), on the 4th of 
April, they were met by the same natives with the 
usual fierce demand for presents. After the Makololo 
had stripped themselves of their copper rings, but in 
vain, Livingstone determined to cross the river in 



FROM SHINTE TO LOANDA. 197 

spite of their opposition. He fell in with a Portu- 
guese half-caste, Cypriano by name, who assisted him 
across the stream. On the opposite bank the tribes 
were subjects of the Portuguese, and all difficulties 
and dangers were over. 

" We were detained by rains and a desire to ascer- 
tain our geographical position till Monday, the 10th," 
he continues, " and only got the latitude 9° 50 7 S. ; and, 
after three days' pretty hard travelling through the 
long grass, reached Cassange, the farthest inland sta- 
tion of the Portuguese in Western Africa. We 
crossed several fine little streams running into the 
Quango ; and as the grass continued to tower about 
two feet over our heads, it generally obstructed our 
view of the adjacent country, and sometimes hung 
over the path, making one side of the body wet with 
the dew every morning, or, when it rained, kept me 
wet during the whole day. I made my entrance in a 
somewhat forlorn state as to clothing among our Por- 
tuguese allies. The first gentleman I met in the vil- 
lage asked if I had a passport, and said it was neces- 
sary to take me before the authorities. As I was in 
the same state of mind in which individuals are who 
commit a petty depredation in order to obtain the 
shelter and food of a prison, I gladly accompanied him 
to the house of the commandant or Ohefe, Senhor de 
Silva Eego. Having shown my passport to this gen- 
tleman, he politely asked me to supper, and, as we 
had eaten nothing except the farina of Cypriano from 
the Quango to this, I suspect I appeared particularly 
ravenous to the other gentlemen around the table. 
They seemed, however, to understand my position 



198 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

pretty well, from having all travelled extensively 
themselves ; had they not been present, I might have 
put some in my pocket to eat by night ; for, after 
fever, the appetite is excessively keen, and manioc is 
one of the most unsatisfying kinds of food. Captain 
Antonio Rodrigues Neves then kindly invited me to 
take up my abode in his house. Next morning this 
generous man arrayed me in decent clothing, and con- 
tinued during the whole period of my stay to treat 
me as if I had been his brother. He not only at- 
tended to my wants, but also furnished food for my 
famishing party free of charge. 

"The village of Cassange (pronounced Kassanje) 
is composed of thirty or forty traders' houses, scat- 
tered about without any regularity, on an elevated 
flat spot in the great Quango or Cassange valley. 
They are built of wattle and daub, and surrounded by 
plantations of manioc, maize, etc. Behind them 
there are usually kitchen gardens, in which the com- 
mon European vegetables, as potatoes, peas, cabbages, 
onions, tomatoes, etc., etc., grow. Guavas and ba- 
nanas appear, from the size and abundance of the 
trees, to have been introduced many years ago, while 
the land was still in the possession of the natives ; but 
pine-apples, orange, fig, and cashew trees have but 
lately been tried. There are about forty Portuguese 
traders in this district, all of whom are officers in the 
militia, and many of them have become rich from 
adopting the plan of sending out pombeiros, or native 
traders, with large quantities of goods, to trade in the 
more remote parts of the country. 

" The latitude and longitude of Cassange, the most 



FROM SHINTE TO LOANDA. 199 

easterly station of the Portuguese in Western Africa, 
is lat. 9° 37 ' S., and long. 17° 49' E ; consequently 
we had still about 300 miles to traverse before we 
could reach the coast. We had a black militia corporal 
as a guide. He was a native of Ambaca, and, like 
nearly all the inhabitants of that district, known by 
the name of Ambakistas, could both read and write. 
He had three slaves with him, and was carried by them 
in a ' tipoia,' or hammock slungTo a pole. His slaves 
were young, and unable to convey him far at a time, 
but he was considerate enough to walk except when 
w r e came near to a village. He then mounted his tip- 
oia and entered the village in state ; his departure was 
made in the same manner, and he continued in the 
hammock till the village was out of sight. It was 
interesting to observe the manners of our soldier-guide. 
Two slaves w T ere always employed in carrying his tip- 
oia, and the third carried a wooden box, about three 
feet long, containing his writing materials, dishes, and 
clothing. He was cleanly in all his ways, and, though 
quite black himself, when he scolded any one of his 
own color, abused him as a 'negro.' When he wanted 
to purchase any article from a village, he would sit 
down, mix a little gunpowder as ink, and write a note 
in a neat hand to ask the price, addressing it to the 
shopkeeper with the rather pompous title, 'Illustris- 
simo Senhor ' (Most Illustrious Sir). This is the in- 
variable mode of address throughout Angola. 

"Having left Cassange on the 21st of April, we 
passed across the remaining portion of the excessively 
fertile valley to the foot of Tala Mungongo. We 
crossed a line little stream called the Lui on the 22d, 



200 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

and another named the Luare on the 24th, then slept 
at the bottom of the height, which is from a thousand 
to fifteen hundred feet. The clouds came floating 
along the valley, and broke against the sides of the 
ascent, and the dripping rain on the tall grass made 
the slaps in the face it gave, when the hand or a stick 
was not held up before it, anything but agreeable. 
This edge of the valley is exactly like the other ; jut- 
ting spurs and defiles give the red ascent the same 
serrated appearance as that which we descended from 
the highlands of Londa. 

" It would have afforded me pleasure to have culti- 
vated a more intimate acquaintance with the inhabi- 
tants of this part of the country, but the vertigo pro- 
duced by frequent fevers made it as much as I could 
do to stick on the ox and crawl along in misery. In 
crossing the Lombe, my ox Sinbad, in the indulgence 
of his propensity to strike out a new path for himself, 
plunged overhead into a deep hole, and so soused me 
that I was obliged to move on to dry my clothing, 
without calling on the Europeans who live on the 
bank. This I regretted, for all the Portuguese were 
very kind, and like the Boers placed in similar circum- 
stances, feel it a slight to be passed without a word of 
salutation. But we went on to a spot where orange- 
trees had been planted by the natives themselves, and 
where abundance of that refreshing fruit was exposed 
for sale. 

" On entering the district of Ambaca, we found the 
landscape enlivened by the appearance of lofty moun- 
tains in the distance, the grass comparatively short, and 
the whole country at this time looking gay and verdant. 



FROM SHINTE TO LOANDA. 201 

On our left we saw certain rocks of the same nature 
with those of Pungo Andongo, and which closely re- 
semble the Stonehenge group on Salisbury Plain, only 
the stone pillars here are of gigantic size. This region 
is all wonderfully fertile, famed for raising cattle, and 
all kinds of agricultural produce, at a cheap rate. 

" We were most kindly received by the command- 
ant of Ambaca, Arsenio de Carpo, who spoke a little 
English. He recommended wine for my debility, 
and here I took the first glass of that beverage I had 
taken in Africa. I felt much refreshed, and could 
then realize and meditate on the weakening effects of 
the fever. They w r ere curious even to myself; for, 
though I had tried several times since we left Ngio to 
take lunar observations, I could not avoM confusion of 
time and distance, neither could I hold the instrument 
steady, nor perform a simple calculation ; hence many 
of the positions of this part of the route were left till 
my return from Loanda. Often, on getting up in the 
mornings, I found my clothing as wet from perspira- 
tion as if it had been dipped in water." 

The journey was slow, on account of Livingstone's 
condition, which the kindness of the Portuguese offi- 
cials in the interior could not relieve. It was nearly 
a month before he reached the station of Golungo 
Alto, among the last mountains. Here he rested a 
few days, and then somewhat refreshed, started for 
Loanda on the 24th of May. 

" Farther on we left the mountainous country, and, 
as we descended toward the west coast, saw the lands 
assuming a more sterile, uninviting aspect. On our 
right ran the river Senza, which nearer the sea takes 



202 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

the name of Bengo. It is about fifty yards broad, 
and navigable for canoes. The low plains adjacent to 
its banks are protected from inundation by embank- 
ments, and the population is entirely occupied in 
raising food and fruits for exportation to Loanda by 
means of canoes. The banks are infested by myri- 
ads of the most ferocious musquitos I ever met. Not 
one of our party could get a snatch of sleep. I was 
taken into the house of a Portuguese, but was soon 
glad to make my escape and lie across the path on the 
lee side of the fire, where the smoke blew over my 
body. My host wondered at my want of taste, and I 
at his want of feeling; for, to our astonishment, he 
and the other inhabitants had actually become used 
to what was at least equal to a nail through the heel 
of one's boot, or the tooth-ache. 

" As we were now drawing near to the sea, my com- 
panions were looking at everything in a serious light. 
One of them asked me if we should all have an oppor- 
tunity of watching each other at Loanda. < Suppose 
one went for water, would the others see if he were 
kidnapped ? ' I replied, ' I see what you are driving 
at ; and if you suspect me, you may return, for I am 
as ignorant of Loanda as you are ; but nothing will 
happen to you but what happens to myself. We have 
stood by each other hitherto, and will do so to the 
last.' The plains adjacent to Loanda are somewhat 
elevated and comparatively sterile. On coming across 
these we first beheld the sea : my companions looked 
upon the boundless ocean with awe. On describing 
their feelings afterward, they remarked that 'we 
marched along with our father, believing that what 



FROM SHINTE TO LOANDA. 203 

the ancients had always told us was true, that the 
world has no end ; but all at once the world said to us, 
1 am finished ; there is no more of me ! ' They had 
always imagined that the world was one extended plain 
without limit. 

" They were now somewhat apprehensive of suf- 
fering want, and I was unable to allay their fears with 
any promise of supply, for my pyn mind was depres- 
sed by disease and care. The fever had induced a 
state of chronic dysentery, so troublesome that I could 
not remain on the ox more than ten minutes at a time ; 
and as we came down the declivity above the city of 
Loanda on the 31st of May, I was laboring under 
^reat depression of spirits, as I understood that, in a 
population of twelve thousand souls, there was but one 
genuine English gentleman. I naturally felt anxious 
to know whether he were possessed of good-nature, or 
was one of those crusty mortals one would rather not 
meet at all. 

" This gentleman, Mr. Gabriel, our commissioner 
for the suppression of the slave-trade, had kindly for- 
warded an invitation to meet me on the way from Cas- 
sange, but, unfortunately, it crossed me on the road. 
When we entered his porch, I was delighted to see a 
number of flowers cultivated carefully, and inferred 
from this circumstance that he was, what I soon dis- 
covered him to be, a real, whole-hearted Englishman. 

" Seeing me ill, he benevolently offered me his bed. 
Never shall I forget the luxurious pleasure I enjoyed 
in feeling myself again on a good English couch, after 
six months' sleeping on the ground. I was soon 
asleep; and Mr. Gabriel, coming in almost immedi- 
ately, rejoiced at the soundness of my repose." 



CHAPTER XII. 



Livingstone's journey across the continent. 



V. — RETURN TO THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY. 

CONTINUED attacks of fever, and the necessity 
of providing himself thoroughly for the return 
journey, obliged Livingstone to remain nearly four 
months in Loanda. During this time he was treated 
with great kindness by the Portuguese authorities 
and the officers of the English vessels in port, all of 
whom contributed liberally to make up his supplies. 
The Makololo who accompanied him soon found em- 
ployment sufficient to support them, and enabled them 
to buy muslin and trinkets. Livingstone gives an 
interesting picture of their behavior, in the midst of 
scenes so new T and strange to them : 

"Every one remarked the serious deportment of 
the Makololo. They viewed the large stone houses 
and churches in the vicinity of the great ocean with 
awe. A house with two stories was, until now, be- 
yond their comprehension. In explanation of this 
strange thing, I had always been obliged to use the 
word for hut ; and as huts are constructed by the poles 
being let into the earth, they never could comprehend 
how the poles of one hut could be founded upon the 
roof of another, or how men could live in the upper 
story, with the conical roof of the lower one in the 
middle. Some Makololo, who had visited my little 



RETURN TO THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY, 205 

house at Kolobeng, in trying to describe it to their 
countrymen at Linyanti, said, ' It is not a hut : it is a 
mountain with several caves in it. 5 

" Commander Bedingfeld and Captain Skene invited 
them to visit their vessels, the ' Pluto' and ' Philomel.' 
Knowing their fears, I told them that no one need go 
if he entertained the least suspicion of foul play. 
Nearly the whole party went ; ^d when on deck, I 
pointed to the sailors, and said, 'Now these are all 
my countrymen, sent by our Queen for the purpose of 
putting down the trade of those that buy and sell 
black men.' They replied, ' Truly ! they are just like 
you ! ' and all their fears seemed to vanish at once, for 
they went forward among the men, and the jolly tars, 
acting much as the Makololo would have done in 
similar circumstances, handed them a share of the 
bread and beef which they had for dinner. The com- 
mander allowed them to fire off a cannon ; and, hav- 
ing the most exalted ideas of its power, they were 
greatly pleased when I told them, ' That is what they 
put down the slave-trade with. 3 The size of the brig- 
of-war amazed them. ' It is not a canoe at all ; it is a 
town ! ' The sailors' deck they named ' the kotla ; ' 
and then, as a climax to their description of this great 
ark, added, 'And what sort of a town is it that you 
must climb up into with a rope ? ' 

" The objects which I had in view in opening up 
the country, as stated in a few notes of my journey, 
published in the newspapers of Angola, so commended 
themselves to the general government and merchants 
of Loanda, that, at the instance of his excellency the 
bishop, a handsome present for Sekeletu was granted 



206 TEA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 

by the Board of Public Works. It consisted of a col- 
onel's complete uniform and a horse for the chief, and 
suits of clothing for all the men who accompanied me. 
The merchants also made a present, by public sub- 
scription, of handsome specimens of all their articles 
of trade, and two donkeys, for the purpose of introduc- 
ing the breed into his country, as tsetse cannot kill 
this beast of burden. These presents were accompan- 
ied by letters from the bishop and merchants ; and I 
was kindly favored with letters of recommendation to 
the Portuguese authorities in Eastern Africa. 

" I took with me a good stock of cotton cloth, fresh 
supplies of ammunition and beads, and gave each of 
my men a musket. As my companions had amassed 
considerable quantities of goods, they were unable to 
carry mine, but the bishop furnished me with twenty 
carriers, and sent forward orders to all the command- 
ants of the districts through which we were to pass to 
render me every assistance in their power. Being 
now supplied with a good new tent made by my 
friends on board the Philomel, we left Loanda on the 
20th of September, 1854, and passed round by sea to 
the mouth of the river Bengo. 

" On returning to Golungo Alto, after a canoe voy- 
age down the Lucalla to its junction with the large 
Coanza River, I found several of my men laid up 
with fever. One of the reasons for my leaving them 
there was that they might recover from the fatigue of 
the journey from Loanda, which had much more effect 
upon their feet than hundreds of miles had on our way 
westward. They had always been accustomed to 
moisture in their own well- watered land, and we cer- 



RETURN TO THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY. 207 

tainly had a superabundance of that in Loanda. The 
roads, however, from Loanda to Golungo Alto were 
both hard and dry, and they suffered severely in con- 
sequence ; yet they were composing songs to be sung 
when they should reach home. The Argonauts were 
nothing to them ; and they remarked very impress- 
ively to me, ' It was well you came with Makololo, 
for no tribe could have done wji^t we have accom- 
plished in coming to the white man's country ; we 
are the true ancients, who can tell wonderful things.' 
Two of them now had fever in the continued form, 
and became jaundiced, the whites or conjunctival mem- 
brane of their eyes becoming as yellow as saffron ; and 
a third suffered from an attack of mania. He came to 
his companions one day, and said, c Remain well. I 
am called away by the gods ! ' and set off at the top 
of his speed. The young men caught him before he 
had gone a mile, and bound him. By gentle treat- 
ment and watching for a few days, he recovered. I 
have observed several instances of this kind in the 
country, but very few cases of idiocy, and I believe 
that continued insanity is rare. 

" Both myself and men having recovered from severe 
attacks of fever, we left the hospitable residence of Mr. 
Canto on the 14th of December, with a deep sense of 
his kindness to us all, and proceeded on our way to 
Ambaca. 

" On crossing the Lucalla we a made detour to the 
south, in order to visit the famous rocks of Pungo An- 
dongo. As soon as we crossed the rivulet Lotete, a 
change in the vegetation of the country was apparent. 
We found the trees identical with those to be seen 



208 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

south of the Chobe. The grass, too, stands in tufts, 
and is of that kind which the natives consider to be 
best adapted for cattle. Two species of grape-bearing 
vines abound everywhere in this district, and the 
influence of the good pasturage is seen in the plump 
condition of the cattle. In all my previous inquiries 
respecting the vegetable products of Angola, I was in- 
variably directed to Pungo Andongo. Do you grow 
wheat ? ' Oh, yes, in Pungo Andongo.' — Grapes, figs, 
or peaches ? ' Oh, yes, in Pungo Andongo.' — Do you 
make butter, cheese, etc. ? The uniform answer was, 
' Oh, yes, there is abundance of all these in Pungo 
Andongo.' But when we arrived here, we found that 
the answers all referred to the activity of one man, 
Colonel Manuel Antonio Pires. The presence of the 
wild grape shows that vineyards might be cultivated 
with success ; the wheat grows well without irrigation ; 
and any one who tasted the butter and cheese at the 
table of Colonel Pires would prefer them to the stale 
produce of the Irish dairy, in general use throughout 
that province. 

" While enjoying the hospitality of this merchant- 
prince in his commodious residence, which is outside 
the rocks, and commands a beautiful view of all the 
adjacent country, I learned that all my dispatches, 
maps, and journal had gone to the bottom of the sea in 
the mail-packet ' Forerunner.' I felt so glad that my 
friend Lieutenant Bedingfeld, to whose care I had com- 
mitted them, though in the most imminent danger, had 
not shared a similar fate, that I was at once reconciled 
to the labor of rewriting. I availed myself of the kind- 
ness of Colonel Pires, and remained till the end of the 
year reproducing my lost papers. 



RETURN TO THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY. 209 

"The fort of Pungo Andongo (lat. 9° 42 ' S., long. 
15° 30 ' E.) is situated in the midst of a group of curi- 
ous columnar-shaped rocks, each of which is upward 
of three hundred feet in height. They are composed 
of conglomerate, made up of a great variety of rounded 
pieces in a matrix of dark red sandstone. They rest 
on a thick stratum of this last rock, with very few of 
the pebbles in its substance. On this a fossil palm has 
been found, and if of the same age as those on the 
eastern side of the continent, on which similar palms 
now lie, there may be coal underneath this, as well as 
under that at Tete. 

'"January 1, 1855. Having, through the kindness 
of Colonel Pires, reproduced some of my lost papers, I 
left Pungo Andongo the first day of this year, and at 
Candumba slept in one of the dairy establishments of 
my friend, who had sent forward orders for an ample 
supply of butter, cheese, and milk. Our path lay 
along the right bank of the Coanza. This is composed 
of the same sandstone rock, with pebbles, which forms 
the flooring of the country. The land is level, has 
much open forest, and is well adapted for pasturage. 

" Before we reached Cassange w r e were overtaken 
by the Commandant, Senhor Carvalho, who was re- 
turning, with a detachment of fifty men and a field- 
piece, from an unsuccessful search after some rebels. 
The rebels had fled, and all he could do was to burn 
their huts. He kindly invited me to take up my resi- 
dence with him ; but, not wishing to pass by the gen- 
tleman (Captain Neves) who had so kindly received 
me on. my first arrival in the Portuguese possessions, I 
declined." Livingstone remained some time at Cas- 
.14 



210 



TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



gauge, resting his men, and waiting for some Portu- 
guese pombeiros, or half-breed traders, who were about 
to start for the interior, and whose company would 
greatly strengthen his party. They finally left Cas- 
sange on the 20th of February. 

" On the day of starting the westerly wind blew 
strongly, and on the day following we were brought to 
a stand by several of our party being laid up with 
fever. This complaint is the only serious drawback 
Angola possesses. It is in every other respect an 
agreeable land, and admirably adapted for yielding a 
rich abundance of tropical produce for the rest of the 
world. Indeed, I have no hesitation in asserting that, 
had it been in the possession of England, it would 
now have been yielding as much or more of the raw 
material for her manufactures as an equal extent of 
territory in the cotton-growing States of America. A 
railway from Loanda to this valley would secure the 
trade of most of the interior of South Central Africa. 

" On coming back to Cypriano's village on the 
28th, we found that his step-father had died after we 
had passed, and according to the custom of the coun- 
try, he had spent more than his patrimony in funeral 
orgies. He acted with his wonted kindness, though, 
unfortunately, drinking has got him so deeply in debt 
that he now keeps out of the way of his creditors. 
He informed us that the source of the Quango is eight 
days, or one hundred miles, to the south of this, and 
in a range called Mosamba, in the country of the 
Basongo. We can see from this a sort of break in 
the high land which stretches away round to Tala 
Mongongo, through which the river comes. 



RETURN TO THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY. 211 

"The ferrymen demanded thirty yards of calico, 
but received six thankfully. The canoes were 
wretched, carrying only two persons at a time ; but 
my men being well acquainted with the water, we all 
got over in about two hours and a half. They excited 
the admiration of the inhabitants by the manner in 
which they managed the cattle and donkeys in cross- 
ing. The most stubborn of beasts found himself 
powerless in their hands. Five or six, seizing hold on 
one, bundled him at once into the stream, and, in this 
predicament; he always thought it best policy to give 
in and swim. The men sometimes swam along with 
the cattle, and forced them to go on by dashing water 
at their heads. The difference between my men and 
those of the native traders who accompanied us was 
never more apparent than now ; for, while my men 
felt an interest in everything we possessed in common, 
theirs were rather glad when the oxen refused to cross, 
for, being obliged to slaughter them on such occasions, 
the loss to their masters was a welcome feast to them- 
selves." 

After crossing the Quango, where he was not mo- 
lested, as on the westward journey, Livingstone deci- 
ded to accompany the traders as far as the town of 
Cabongo, in the Londa country, in order to avoid the 
territories of the Chiboque and the great swampy 
regions lying between him and the distant Leeba 
River. This route took him further to the eastward, 
but did not increase the distance to be traversed. 
Moreover, he would have the company of the Portu- 
guese traders as far as Cabongo, and the indica- 
tions were that between the latter place and the 



212 TRA VELS IN SO UTH AFRICA, 

town of his friend Shinte, few difficulties would be 
encountered from the native tribes. 

" On proceeding to our former station near Sansawe's 
village," the narrative continues, " he ran to meet us 
with wonderful urbanity, asking if we had seen Moene 
Put, king of the white men (or Portuguese); and 
added, on parting, that he would come to receive his 
dues in the evening. I replied that, as he had treated 
us so scurvily, even forbidding his people to sell us 
any food, if he did not bring us a fowl and some eggs 
as part of his duty as a chief, he should receive no 
present from me. When he came, it was in the usual 
Londa way of showing the exalted position he occu- 
pies, mounted on the shoulders of his spokesman, as 
school-boys sometimes do in England, and as was rep- 
resented to have been the case in the southern islands 
when Captain Cook visited them. My companions, 
amused at his idea of dignity, greeted him with a 
hearty laugh. He visited the native traders first, and 
then came to me with two cocks as a present. I spoke 
to him about the impolicy of treatment we had re- 
ceived at his hands, and quoted the example of the 
Bangalas, who had been conquered by the Portuguese, 
for their extortionate demands of payment for firewood, 
grass, water, etc., and concluded by denying his right 
to any payment for simply passing through uncultiva- 
ted land. To all this he agreed ; and then I gave him, 
as a token of friendship, a pannikin of coarse powder, 
two iron spoons, and two yards of coarse printed calico. 

" Finding the progress of Senhor Pascoal and the 
other pombeiros excessively slow, I resolved to forego 
his company to Cabango after I had delivered to him 



RETURN TO THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY. 213 

some letters to be sent back to Cassange. I went for- 
ward with the intention of finishing my writing, and 
leaving a packet for him at some village. We as- 
cended the eastern acclivity that bounds the Cassange 
valley, which has rather a gradual ascent up from the 
Quango, and we found that the last ascent, though ap- 
parently not quite so high as that at Tala Mungongo, 
is actually much higher. The i;op is about 5,000 feet 
above the level of the sea, and the bottom 8,500 feet. 
We had now gained the summit of the western sub- 
tending ridge, and began to descend toward the centre 
of the country, hoping soon to get out of the Chiboque 
territory, which when we ascended from the Cassange 
valley, we had entered ; but, on the 19th of April, the 
intermittent, which had begun on the 16th of March, 
was changed into an extremely severe attack of rheu- 
matic fever. This was brought on by being obliged to 
sleep on an extensive plain covered with water. The 
rain poured down incessantly, but we formed our beds 
by dragging up the earth into oblong mounds, some- 
what like graves in a country church-yard, and then plac- 
ing grass upon them. The rain continuing to deluge us, 
we were unable to leave for two days, but as soon as 
it became fair we continued our march. The heavy 
dew upon the high grass was so cold as to cause shiv- 
ering, and I was forced to lie by for eight days, toss- 
ing and groaning with violent pain in the head. This 
was the most severe attack I had endured. It made 
me quite unfit to move, or even know what was pass- 
ing outside my little tent. Senhor Pascoal, who had 
been detained by the severe rain at a better spot, at 
last came up, and, knowing that leeches abounded in 



214 TEA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

the rivulets, procured a number, and applied some 
dozens to the nape of the neck and the loins. This 
partially relieved the pain. He was then obliged to 
move forward, in order to purchase food for his large 
party. After many days I began to recover, and 
wished to move on, but my men at first objected to 
the attempt on account of my weakness. 

" The country was generally covered with forest, 
and we slept every night at some village. I was so 
weak, and had become so deaf from the effects of the 
fever, that I was glad to avail myself of the company 
of Senhor Pascoal and the other native traders. Our 
rate of travelling was only two geographical miles per 
hour, and the average number of hours three and a 
half per day, or seven miles. Two-thirds of the month 
was spent in stoppages, there being only ten travelling 
days in each month. The stoppages were caused by 
sickness, and the necessity of remaining in different 
parts to purchase food ; and also because, when one 
carrier was sick, the rest refused to carry his load. 

" We crossed the Loange, a deep but narrow stream, 
by a bridge. It becomes much larger, and contains 
hippopotami, lower down. It is the boundary of 
Londa on the west. We slept also on the banks of the 
Pezo, now flooded, and could not but admire their 
capabilities for easy irrigation. On reaching the river 
Chikapa, the 25th of March, we found it fifty or sixty 
yards wide, and flowing E.N.E. into the Kasai. The 
adjacent country is of the same level nature as that 
part of Londa formerly described ; but, having come 
farther to the eastward than our previous course, we 
found that all the rivers had worn for themselves much 







HEADDRESSES IN LONDA. 



RETURN TO THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY. 215 

deeper valleys than at the points we had formerly 
crossed them. 

"Surrounded on all sides by large gloomy forests, 
the people of these parts have a much more indistinqt 
idea of the geography of their country than those who 
live in hilly regions. It was only after long and pa- 
tient inquiry that I became fully persuaded that the 
Quilo runs into the Chikapa. As we now crossed them 
both considerably farther down, and were greatly to 
the eastward of our first route, there can be no doubt 
that these rivers take the same course as the others, 
into the Kasai, and that I had been led into a mistake 
in saying that any of them flowed to the westward. 

" The people seemed more slender in form, and 
their color a lighter olive, than any we had hitherto 
met. The mode of dressing the great masses of woolly 
hair which lay upon their shoulders, together w T ith their 
general features, again reminded me of the ancient 
Egyptians. Several were seen with the upward incli- 
nation of the outer angles of the eye, but this was not 
general. A few of the ladies adopt a curious custom 
of attaching the hair to a hoop which encircles the 
head, giving it somewhat the appearance of the glory 
round the head of the Virgin. Some have a small 
hoop behind that represented in the wood-cut. Oth- 
ers wear an ornament of woven hair and hide adorned 
with beads. The hair of the tails of buffaloes, which 
are to be found farther east, is sometimes added ; while 
others weave their own hair on pieces of hide into the 
form of buffalo horns, or make a single horn in front. 
The features given are frequently met with, but they 
are by no means universal. Many tattoo their bodies 



21 6 TRA VELS IN SO UTH AFRICA. 

by inserting some black substance beneath the skin, 
which leaves an elevated cicatrix about half an inch 
long : these are made in the form of stars, and other 
figures of no particular beauty. 

" We made a little detour to the southward in order 
to get provisions in a cheaper market. This led us 
along the rivulet called Tamba, where we found the 
people, who had not been visited so frequently by the 
slave-traders as the rest, rather timid and very civil. 
It was agreeable to get again among the uncontamin- 
ated, and to see the natives look at us without that air 
of superciliousness which is so unpleasant and common 
in the beaten track. The same olive color prevailed. 
They file their teeth to a point, which makes the smile 
of the women frightful, as it reminds one of the grin of 
an alligator. The inhabitants throughout this country 
exhibit as great a variety of taste as appears on the sur- 
face of society among ourselves. Many of the men are 
dandies ; their shoulders are always wet with the oil 
dropping from their lubricated hair, and everything 
about them is ornamented in one way or another. 
Some thrum a musical instrument the livelong day, 
and, when they wake at night, proceed at once to their 
musical performance. Many of these musicians are too 
poor to have iron keys to their instrument, but make 
them of bamboo, and persevere, though no one hears 
the music but themselves. Others try to appear war- 
like by never going out of their huts except with a load 
of bows and arrows, or a gun ornamented with a strip 
of hide for every animal they have shot ; and others 
never go anywhere without a canary in a cage. Ladies 
may be seen carefully tending little lap-dogs, which are 



RETURN TO THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY. 21'/ 

intended to be eaten. Their villages are generally ia 
forests, and composed of groups of irregularly-planted 
brown huts, with banana and cotton trees, and tobacco 
growing around. There is also at every hut a high 
stage erected for drying manioc roots and meal, and 
elevated cages to hold domestic fowls. Round baskets 
are laid on the thatch of the huts for the hens to lay in, 
and on the arrival of strangers, m^n, women, and chil- 
dren ply their calling as hucksters with a great deal of 
noisy haggling ; all their transactions are conducted 
with civil banter and good temper. 

" We passed on through forests abounding in climb- 
ing-plants, many of which are so extremely tough that 
a man is required to go in front with a hatchet ; and 
w T hen the burdens of the carriers are caught, they are 
obliged to cut the climbers with their teeth, for no 
amount of tugging will make them break. The paths 
in all these forests are so zigzag that a person may im- 
agine he has travelled a distance of thirty miles, w T hich, 
when reckoned as the crow flies, may not be fifteen. 

" We crossed two small streams, the Kanesi and 
Fombeji, before reaching Cabango, a village situated on 
the banks of the Chihombo. The country was becoming 
more densely peopled as we proceeded, but it bears no 
population compared to what it might easily sustain. 
Provisions were to be had in great abundance ; a fowl 
and basket of meal weighing 20 lbs. were sold for a 
yard and a half of very inferior cotton cloth, worth not 
more than three-pence.'' 

The progress of the party was so slow, on 
account of Livingstone's illness, and the many 
streams to be crossed, that it was the 10th of 



318 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

May when they reached Cabango. Here they re- 
mained until the 21st. It would have been quite easy 
for Livingstone to have gone on to the town of Mati- 
amvo, the great chief of the powerful Londa tribe, re- 
ports of which have been given to the world by the 
Portuguese ; but his duty to his Makololo followers 
compelled him to renounce the chances of exploration. 

" Cabango (lat. 9° 31' S., long. 20° 31/ E.) is the 
dwelling-place of Muanzanza, one of Matiamvo's 
subordinate chiefs. His village consists of about two 
hundred huts and ten or twelve square houses, con- 
structed of poles with grass interwoven. The latter 
are occupied by half-caste Portuguese from Ambaca, 
agents for the Cassange traders. The cold in the 
mornings was now severe to the feelings, the thermom- 
eter ranging from 58° to 60°, though, when pro- 
tected, sometimes standing as high as 64° at six A. M. 
When the sun is well up, the thermometer in the 
shade rises to 80°, and in the evenings it is about 78°. 

"A person having died in this village, we could 
transact no business with the chief until the funeral 
obsequies were finished. These occupy about four 
days, during which there is a constant succession of 
dancings wailing, and feasting. Guns are fired by 
day, and drums beaten by night, and all the relatives, 
dressed in fantastic caps, keep up the ceremonies with 
spirit proportionate to the amount of beer and beef 
expended. When there is a large expenditure, the 
remark is often made afterward, ' What a fine funeral 
that was ! ' A figure, consisting chiefly of feathers 
and beads, is paraded on these occasions, and seems to 
be regarded as an idol. 



RETURN TO THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY. 219 

" As we thought it best to strike away to the S. 
E. from Cabango to our old friend Katema, I asked a 
guide from Muanzanza as soon as the funeral proceed- 
ings were over. He agreed to furnish one, and also 
accepted a smaller present from me than usual, when 
it was represented to him by Pascoal and Faria that I 
was not a trader. We were forced to prepay our 
guide and his father too, and ly3/went but one day, 
although he promised to go with us to Katema. He 
was not in the least ashamed at breaking his engage- 
ments, and probably no disgrace will be attached to 
the deed by Muanzanza. Among the Bakwains he 
would have been punished. My men would have 
stripped him of the wages which he wore on his 
person, but thought that, as we had always acted on 
the mildest principles, they would let him move off 
with his unearned gains. 

" On the 28th we reached the village of the chief 
Bango who brought us a handsome present of meal, 
and the meat of an entire pallah. We here slaugh- 
tered the last of the cows presented to us in Loanda, 
which I had kept milked until it gave only a teaspoon- 
ful at a time. My men enjoyed a hearty laugh when 
they found that I had given up all hope of more, for 
they had been talking among themselves about my 
perseverance. We offered a leg of the cow to Bango, 
but he informed us that neither he nor his people 
ever partook of beef, as they looked upon cattle as 
human, and living at home likp men. 

"We left Bango on the 30th of May, and pro- 
ceeded to the river Loembwe, which abounds in hip- 
popotami. It is about sixty yards wide, and four feet 



220 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

deep, but usually contains much less water than this, 
for there are fishing-weirs placed right across it. Like 
all the African rivers in this quarter, it has morasses 
on each bank, yet the valley in which it winds, when 
seen from the high lands above, is extremely beautiful. 
This valley is about the fourth of a mile wide, and it 
was easy to fancy the similarity of many spots on it to 
the goodly manors in our country, and feel assured 
that there was still ample territory left for an indefinite 
increase of the world's population. The villages are 
widely apart and difficult of access, from the paths 
being so covered with tall grass, that even an ox can 
scarcely follow the tract. The grass cuts the feet of 
the men ; yet we met a woman with a little child, and 
a girl, wending their way home with loads of manioc. 
The sight of a white man always infuses a tremor into 
their dark bosoms, and in every case of the kind they 
appeared immensely relieved when I had fairly passed 
without having sprung upon them. In the villages 
the dogs run away with their tails between their legs, 
as if they had seen a lion. The women peer from be- 
hind the walls till he comes near them, and then has- 
tily dash into the house. When a little child, uncon- 
scious of danger, meets you in the street, he sets up a 
scream at the apparition, and conveys the impression 
that he is not far from going into fits. Among the 
Bechuanas I have been obliged to reprove the women 
for making a hobgoblin of the white man, and telling 
their children that they would send for him to bite 
them. 

" At every village attempts were made to induce us 
to remain a night. Sometimes large pots of beer were 



RETURN TO THE MAKOLOLO COUNTR Y. 221 

offered to us as a temptation. Occasionally the head 
man would peremptorily order us to halt under a tree 
which he pointed out. At other times young men 
volunteered to guide us to the impassable part of the 
next bog, in the hope of bringing us to a stand, for all 
are excessively eager to trade ; but food was so very 
cheap that we sometimes preferred paying them to 
keep it, and let us part in good humor. A good-sized 
fowl could be had for a single charge of gunpowder.' 5 

The only difficulty which Livingstone encountered 
was with a chief named Kawawa, who, after receiving 
him in a friendly manner, demanded tribute, and, when 
it was refused, threatened to prevent the party from 
crossing the great Kasai River, which they were ap- 
proaching. After an altercation which came near re- 
sulting in bloodshed, Livingstone marched away from 
the village with his men. 

" But Kawawa," he says, u was not to be balked of 
his supposed rights by the unceremonious way in 
which we had left him ; for, when we had reached the 
ford of the Kasai, about ten miles distant, we found 
that he had sent four of his men, with orders to the 
ferrymen to refuse us passage. We were here duly 
informed that we must deliver up all the articles men- 
tioned, and one of our men besides. This demand for 
one of our number always nettled every heart. The 
canoes were taken away before our eyes, and we were 
supposed to be quite helpless without them, at a river 
a good hundred yards broad, and very deep. Pitsane 
stood on the bank, gazing with apparent indifference 
on the stream, and made an accurate observation of 
where the canoes were hidden among the reeds. The 



222 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

ferrymen casually asked one of my Batoka if they had 
rivers in his country, and he answered with truth, 
■ No, we have none.' Kawawa's people then felt sure 
we could not cross. I thought of swimming when 
they were gone ; but after it was dark, by the unasked 
loan of one of the hidden canoes, we soon were snug 
in our bivouac on the southern bank of the Kasai. I 
left some beads as payment for some meal which had 
been presented by the ferrymen ; and, the canoe hav- 
ing been left on their own side of the river, Pitsane 
and his companions laughed uproariously at the dis- 
gust our enemies would feel, and their perplexity as 
to who had been our paddler across. They were quite 
sure that Kawawa would imagine that we had been 
ferried over by his own people, and would be divining 
to find out who had done the deed. When ready to 
depart in the morning, Kawawa's people appeared on 
the opposite heights, and could scarcely believe their 
eyes when they saw us prepared to start away to the 
south. At last one of them called out, c Ah ! ye are 
bad,' to which Pitsane and his companions retorted, 
'Ah! ye are good, and we thank you for the loan of 
your canoe.' We were careful to explain the whole 
of the circumstances to Katema and the other chiefs, 
and they all agreed that we were perfectly justifiable 
under the circumstances, and that Matiamvo would 
approve our conduct. 

"After leaving the Kasai, we entered upon the 
extensive level plains which we had formerly found in 
a flooded condition. The water on them was not yet 
dried up, as it still remained in certain hollow spots. 
Vultures were seen floating in the air, showing that 



RETURN TO THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY. 223 

carrion was to be found ; and, indeed, we saw several 
of the large game, but so exceedingly wild as to be 
unapproachable. Numbers of caterpillars mounted 
the stalks of grass, and many dragonflies and butter- 
flies appeared, though this was winter. 

" During our second day on this extensive plain I 
suffered from my twenty-seventh attack of fever, at a 
part where no surface-water was to be found. We 
never thought it necessary to carry water with us in this 
region ; and now, when I was quite unable to move on, 
my men soon found water to allay my burning thirst 
by digging with sticks a few feet beneath the surface. 
We had thus an opportunity of observing the state of 
these remarkable plains at different seasons of the year. 
Next day we pursued our way, and on the 8th of June 
we forded the Lotembwa to the N.W. of Dilolo, and 
regained our former path." 

Nothing farther occurred to interrupt the progress 
of the party. The chief Katema received them kindly, 
and, after a short rest at his village, they proceeded 
onward across the many tributaries of the Leeba, then 
that river itself, and finally reached the town of the 
friendly Shinte, on the 24th of June. 

" We received a hearty welcome from this friendly 
old man, and abundant provisions of the best he had. 
On hearing the report of the journey given by my com- 
panions, and receiving a piece of cotton cloth about two 
yards square, he said, ' These Mambari cheat us by 
bringing little pieces only ; but the next time you pass 
I shall send men with you to trade for me in Loan- 
da.' When I explained the use made of the slaves he 
sold, and that he was just destroying his own tribe by 



224 TRA VELS IN SO UTH AFRICA. 

selling his people, and enlarging that of the Mambari 
for the sake of these small pieces of cloth, it seemed to 
him quite a new idea. He entered into a long detail of 
his troubles with Masiko, who had prevented him from 
cultivating that friendship with the Makololo which I 
had inculcated, and had even plundered the messengers 
he had sent with Kolimbota to the Barotse valley. 

" As I had been desirous of introducing some of the 
fruit-trees of Angola, both for my own sake and that 
of the inhabitants, we had carried a pot containing a 
little plantation of orange, cashew-trees, custard-apple- 
trees, and a fig-tree, with coffee, aragas, and papaws. 
Fearing that if we took them farther south at present 
they might be killed by the cold, we planted them out 
in an inclosure of one of Shinte' s principal men, and, at 
his request, promised to give Shinte a share when 
grown. They know the value of fruits, but at present 
have none except wild ones. A wild fruit we fre- 
quently met with in Londa is eatable, and, when 
boiled, yields a large quantity of oil, which is much 
used in anointing both head and body. He eagerly 
accepted some of the seeds of the palm-oil-tree when 
told that this would produce oil in much greater quan- 
tity than their native tree, which is not a palm. 

" We parted on the best possible terms with our 
friend Shinte, and proceeded by our former path to 
the village of his sister Nyamoana, who is now a 
widow. She received us with much apparent feeling, 
and said, ' We had removed from our former abode 
to the place where you found us, and had no idea 
then that it was the spot where my husband was 
to die. 5 She had come to the river Lofuje, as they 



RETURN TO THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY. 225 

never remain in a place where death has once visited 
them. We received the loan of five small canoes 
from her, and also one of those we had left here before, 
to proceed down the Leeba. After viewing the 
Coanza at Massangano, I thought the Leeba at least 
a third larger, and upward of two hundred yards wide. 
We saw evidence of its rise during its last flood 
having been upward of forty £e£t in perpendicular 
height ; but this is probably more than usual, as the 
amount of rain was above the average. My compan- 
ions purchased also a number of canoes from the 
Balonda. These are very small, and can carry only two 
persons. They are made quite thin and light, and as 
sharp as racing-skiffs, because they are used in hunt- 
ing animals in the water. The price paid was a string 
of beads equal to the length of the canoe. We ad- 
vised them to bring canoes for sale to the Makololo, 
as they would gladly give them cows in exchange." 

Livingstone waited a day or two to see the chief- 
tainess Manenko, and while there, became a blood- 
relation to her husband Maneako, each drinking a few 
drops of the other's blood, in a pot of beer. " On one 
occasion," he says, " I became blood-relation to a young 
woman by accident. She had a large cartilaginous 
tumor between the bones of the fore-arm, which, as it 
gradually enlarged, so distended the muscles as to 
render her unable to work. She applied to me to 
excise it. I requested her to bring her husband, if 
he were willing to have the operation performed, and, 
while removing the tumor, one of the small arteries 
squirted some blood into my eye. She remarked, 
when I was wiping the blood out of it, i You were a 



226 TRA VELS IN SO UTH AFRICA. 

friend before, now you are a blood-relation ; and when 
you pass this way, always send me word, that I may 
cook food for you. 5 In creating these friendships, my 
men had the full intention of returning ; each one had 
his molekane (friend) in every village of the friendly 
Balonda. 

« yp e reached the town of Libonta on the 27th of 
July, and were received with demonstrations of joy 
such as I had never witnessed before. The women 
came forth to meet us, making their curious dancing 
gestures and loud lulliloos. Some carried a mat and 
stick, in imitation of a spear and shield. Others 
rushed forward and kissed the hands and cheeks of the 
different persons of their acquaintance among us, rais- 
ing such a dust that it was quite a relief to get to the 
men assembled and sitting with proper African de- 
corum in the kotla. We were looked upon as men 
risen from the dead, for the most skillful of their 
diviners had pronounced us to have perished long ago. 
After many expressions of joy at meeting, I arose, and, 
thanking them, explained the causes of our long de- 
lay, but left the report to be made by their own coun- 
trymen. Formerly I had been the chief speaker, now 
I would leave the task of speaking to them. Pitsane 
then delivered a speech of upward of an hour in 
length, giving a highly flattering picture of the whole 
journey, of the kindness of the white men in general, 
and of Mr. Gabriel in particular. He concluded by 
saying that I had done more for them than they ex- 
pected; that I had not only opened up a path for 
them to the other white men, but conciliated all 
the chiefs along the route. 



RETURN TO THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY. 227 

" My men decked themselves out in their best, and 
I found that, although their goods were finished, they 
had managed to save suits of European clothing, 
which, being white, with their red caps, gave them 
rather a dashing appearance. They tried to walk like 
the soldiers they had seen in Loanda, and called them- 
selves my i braves ' (batlabani). During the service 
they all sat with their guns ovgr their shoulders, and 
excited the unbounded admiration of the women and 
children. I addressed them all on the goodness of 
God in preserving us from all the dangers of strange 
tribes and disease. We had a similar service in the 
afternoon. The men gave us two fine oxen for slaugh- 
ter, and the women supplied us abundantly with milk, 
meal, and butter. It was all quite gratuitous, and 1 
felt ashamed that I could make no return. My men 
explained the total expenditure of our means, and the 
Libontese answered gracefully, 'It does not matter; 
you have opened a path for us, and we shall have 
sleep. 5 Strangers came flocking from a distance, and 
seldom empty-handed. Their presents I distributed 
among my men. 

" Our progress down the Barotse valley was just 
Kke this. Every village gave us an ox, and sometimes 
two. The people were wonderfully kind. I felt, 
and still feel, most deeply grateful, and tried to ben- 
efit them in the only way I could, by imparting the 
knowledge of that Saviour who can comfort and supply 
them in the time of need, and my prayer is that he 
may send his good Spirit to instruct them and lead 
them into his kingdom. Even now I earnestly long to 
return, and make some recompense to them for 
their kindness. 



228 TRA VELS IN SO UTH AFRICA. 

" On reaching Naliele on the 1st of August we 
found Mpololo in great affliction on account of the 
death of his daughter and her child. She had been 
lately confined; and her father naturally remembered 
her when an ox was slaughtered, or when the tribute 
of other food, which he receives in lieu of Sekeletu, 
came in his way, and sent frequent presents to her. 
This moved the envy of one of the Makololo who 
hated Mpololo, and wishing to vex him, he entered the 
daughter's hut by night, and strangled both her and 
her child. He then tried to make fire in the hut and 
burn it, so that the murder might not be known ; but 
the squeaking noise of rubbing the sticks awakened a 
servant, and the murderer was detected. Both he and 
his wife were thrown into the river ; the latter having 
' known of her husband's intentions, and not revealing 
them. 5 She declared she had dissuaded him from the 
crime, and, had any one interposed a word, she might 
have been spared. 

" I left Naliele on the 13th of August, and, when 
proceeding along the shore at midday, a hippopotamus 
struck the canoe with her forehead, lifting one half of 
it quite out of the water, so as nearly to overturn it. 
The force of the butt she gave tilted Mashauana out 
into the river; the rest of us sprang to the shore, 
which was only about ten yards off. Glancing back, 
I saw her come to the surface a short way off, and look 
to the canoe, as if to see if she had done much mis- 
chief. It was a female, whose young one had been 
speared the day before. No damage was done except 
wetting person and goods. This is so unusual an oc- 
currence, when the precaution is taken to coast along 




HIPP0P0TAMU3 UPSETTING A BOAT. 



RETURN TO THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY, 229 

the shore, that my men exclaimed, ' Is the beast 
mad ? ' There were eight of us in the canoe at the 
time, and the shake it received shows the immense 
power of this animal in the water. 

" Having got the loan of other canoes from Mpololo, 
and three oxen as provision for the way, which made 
the number we had been presented with in the Barotse 
valley amount to thirteen, w^jiroceeded down the 
river toward Sesheke, and were as much struck as 
formerly with the noble river. The whole scenery is 
lovely, though the atmosphere is murky in consequence 
of the continuance of the smoky tinge of winter. 

" Long before reaching Sesheke we had been in- 
formed that a party of Matebele, the people of Mo- 
silikatse, had brought some packages of goods for me 
to the south bank of the river, near the Victoria Falls, 
and, though they declared that they had been sent by 
Mr. Moffat, the Makololo had refused to credit the 
statement of their sworn enemies. They imagined 
that the parcels were directed to me as a mere trick, 
whereby to place witchcraft-medicine into the hands 
of the Makololo. When the Matebele on the south 
bank called to the Makololo on the north to come over 
in canoes and receive the goods sent by Moffat to 
6 Nake,' the Makololo replied, ' Go along with you, we 
know better than that ; how could he tell Moffat to 
send his things here, he having gone away to the 
north ? ' The Matebele answered, ' Here are the 
goods ; we place them now before you, and if you leave 
them to perish the guilt will be yours. 5 When they 
had departed the Makololo thought better of it, and, 
after much divination, went over with fear and trem- 



230 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

bling, and carried the packages carefully to an island in 
the middle of the stream ; then, building a hut over 
them to protect them from the weather, they left 
them ; and there I found they had remained from 
September, 1854, till September, 1855, in perfect 
safety. Here, as I had often experienced before, I 
found the news was very old, and had lost much of its 
interest by keeping, but there were some good eata- 
ables from Mrs. Moffat. 

" Having waited a few days at Sesheke till the 
horses which we had left at Linyanti should arrive, we 
proceeded to that town, and found the wagon, and 
everything we had left in November, 1853, perfectly 
safe. A grand meeting of all the people was called to 
receive our report, and the articles which had been 
sent by the governor and merchants of Loanda. I ex- 
plained that none of these were my property, but that 
they were sent to show the friendly feelings of the 
white men, and their eagerness to enter into commer- 
cial relations with the Makololo. I then requested 
my companions to give a true account of what they 
had seen. The wonderful things lost nothing in the 
telling, the climax always being that they had finished 
the whole world, and had turned only when there was 
no more land. One glib old gentleman asked, ' Then 
you reached Ma Robert (Mrs. L.)?' They were 
obliged to confess that she lived a little beyond the 
world. The presents were received with expressions 
of great satisfaction and delight ; and on Sunday, when 
Sekeletu made his appearance at church in his uni- 
form, it attracted more attention than the sermon; 
and the kind expressions they made use of respecting 




THE VILLAGE OF SKULLS. 



RETURN TO THE MAKOLOLO AOUNTRY. 231 

myself were so very flattering that I felt inclined to 
shut my eyes. Their private opinion must have tal- 
lied with their public report, for I very soon received 
offers from volunteers to accompany me to the east 
coast." 

[In his narrative Livingstone omits the relation of 
the manner in which the goods had been forwarded 
by Mr. Moffat to the island on the^Zambesi. 

His father-in-law, still full of energy in spite of his 
age, had determined that no chance should be lost of 
forwarding supplies ; and undertook the task himself, 
since it involved a journey into the Matebele country, 
which (as the reader will see by referring to Chapter 
in.) he had first visited in 1829. The famous chief, 
Mosilikatse, was still living, though very old, and 
Moffat believed that — although the Matebele and Mak- 
ololo were hostile — he could prevail upon the chief to 
forward supplies to Livingstone through his country. 

Starting from Kuruman, in the spring of 1854, 
Moffat travelled about 400 miles, in a north-eastern 
direction, before reaching the frontiers of the Matabele 
tribe. After a journey of several weeks, he arrived at 
the Tillage of Skulls, the town of Mosilikatse. Each 
hut is surrounded with high poles, every one of which 
is crowned with the skulls of those slain by the owner 
of the hut. The surrounding country was mountain- 
ous, but very beautiful and fertile, and the people were 
becoming agricultural in their habits. 

The first interview which Moffat had w T ith the old 
chief was an evidence that the latter possessed some 
native goodness of heart, in spite of the savage acts of 
which he had been guilty during all his long life. 



232 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

Mosilikatse was carried in a kind of chair to meet the 
missionary. The hero of so many battles was hardly 
to be recognized. His body and his legs were so 
swollen by dropsy that he could neither walk nor sit 
erect. When he saw Moffat, he grasped his hand 
silently, then threw his garment over his face and 
wept. 

Many times he repeated the words : " Surely, I am 
only dreaming that you are Moffat," and then said : 
" Matshobane (the name of my father) I will call you, 
because you have been a father to me. You have 
made my heart as soft as milk. I cannot cease to won- 
der at the affection of a stranger. You have never 
seen me before, and yet you love me more than any 
one of my own people. You have fed me, when I was 
hungry; you have clothed me, when I was naked; 
you have held me in your bosom, and your arm has 
protected me from my enemies." 

When Moffat answered that he was not conscious 
of having rendered him any of these services, the chief 
pointed to two native messengers who had seated them- 
selves at the missionary's feet, and answered : " These 
two are very important men; Umbate is my right 
hand. When I send them where the white men live, 
I send my ears, my eyes, and my mouth with them. 
What they have heard, I hear ; what they have seen, I 
see ; and what they have said, was said by Mosilikatse. 
You have fed and clothed them, and when their lives 
were in danger, you were their shield. What you did 
to them, that you did to me." 

Pointing to his dropsical legs, which he declared 
would soon bring him to death, he added : u Your God 



RETURN TO THE MAKOLOLO COUNTRY, 233 

has sent you to me, to give me help and healing." 
Moffat undertook the treatment of his case, and "was 
fortunate enough to enable him to walk a little ; but 
he was always obliged to administer the medicine him- 
self, as the chief was in constant fear of being poisoned 
by his wives. 

The journey was entirely successful. The Mate- 
bele, as we have seen, took chargei)f the supplies for 
Livingstone, carried them to the Zambesi, and there 
conscientiously deposited them, leaving the further 
responsibility of their care to the Makololo. Moffat 
returned in safety to Kuruman.] 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Livingstone's journey across the continent. 

VI. DOWN THE ZAMBESI TO THE EASTERN COAST. 

HAVING found it impracticable to open a wagon- 
road to the western coast, it was now necessary 
that Livingstone should make choice of route by which 
the Indian Ocean might be reached. The Arab tra 
ders to be transported from Zanzibar to the Makololo 
country assured him that he could return upon their 
track with safety, by way of the great lake Tangany- 
ika, which had not then been reached by any white 
man; but he was anxious to ascertain whether the 
Zambesi River might not be a navigable stream for 
some distance into the interior. His first desire, of 
course, was to follow the river. The Makololo, how- 
ever, who were acquainted with the country as far 
eastward as the Kafue, a large tributary of the Zam- 
besi, objected to this, declaring that the country was 
so broken and rocky as to render it almost impassable. 
They proposed a direct course eastward, on the 
northern side of the Zambesi, to the Kafue, and then a 
journey along the former river to the first Portuguese 
station at Tete. As Livingstone was indebted to 
Sekeletu for much of his outfit, and his success, as on 
the westward journey, would depend entirely on the 
conduct of his followers, he felt obliged to accept 



DOWN THE ZAMBESI. 235 

their decision. So much of his great design had 
already been accomplished, that it scarcely seemed 
necessary to hazard the remaining portion without the 
certainty of some advantage in return. We will now 
let him resume his narrative : 

" On the 3d of November we bade adieu to our 
friends at Linyanti, accompanied by Sekeletu and 
about 200 followers. We were |U/fed at his expense, 
and he took cattle for this purpose from every station 
we came to. The principal men of the Makololo, 
Lebeole, Ntlarie, Nkwatlele, etc., were also of the 
party. We passed through the patch of the tsetse, 
which exists between Linyanti and Sesheke, by night. 
The majority of the company went on by daylight, in 
order to prepare our beds. Sekeletu and I, with about 
forty young men, waited outside the tsetse till dark. 
We then went forward, and about ten o'clock it be- 
came so pitchy dark that both horses and men were 
completely blinded. The lightning spread over the 
sky, forming eight or ten branches at a time, in shape 
exactly like those of a tree. This, with great volumes 
of sheet-lightning, enabled us at times to see the whole 
country. The intervals between the flashes were so 
densely dark as to convey the idea of stone-blindness. 
The horses trembled, cried out, and turned round, 
as if searching for each other, and every new flash re- 
vealed the men taking different directions, laughing, 
and stumbling against each other. 

" While at Sesheke, Sekeletu supplied me with 
twelve oxen — three of which were accustomed to be- 
ing ridden upon — hoes, and beads to purchase a canoe 
when we should strike the Leeambye beyond the falls. 



236 TEA VELS IN SO UTH AFRICA. 

He likewise presented abundance of good fresh butter 
and honey, and did everything in his power to make 
me comfortable for the journey. I was entirely depen- 
dent on his generosity, for the goods I originally 
brought from the Cape were all expended by the time 
I set off from Linyanti to the west coast. I there drew 
£70 of my salary, paid my men with it, and purchased 
goods for the return journey to Linyanti. These being 
now all expended, the Makololo again fitted me out, 
and sent me on to the east coast. I was thus depen- 
dent on their bounty, and that of other Africans, for 
the means of going from Linyanti to Loanda, and 
again from Linyanti to the east coast, and I feel deeply 
grateful to them. Coin would have been of no benefit, 
for gold and silver are quite unknown. 

" As this was the point from which we intended to 
strike off to the north-east, I resolved on the following 
day to visit the Falls of Victoria, called by the natives 
Mosioatunya, or more anciently Shongwe. Of these 
we had often heard since we came into the country ; 
indeed, one of the questions asked by Sebituane was, 
* Have you smoke that sounds in your country ? ' 
They did not go near enough to examine them, but, 
viewing them with awe at a distance, said, in reference 
to the vapor and noise, ' Mosi oa tunya ' (smoke does 
sound there). It was previously called Shongwe, the 
meaning of which I could not ascertain. The w T ord 
for a i pot ' resembles this, and it may mean a seething 
caldron, but I am not certain of it. Being persuaded 
that Mr. Oswell and myself were the very first Euro- 
peans who ever visited the Zambesi in the centre of the 
country, and that this is the connecting link between 



DOWN THE ZAMBESI. 237 

the known and unknown portions of that river, I de- 
cided to use the same liberty as the Makololo did, and 
gave the only English name I have affixed to any part 
of the country. 

"Sekeletu intended to accompany me, but one 
canoe only having come instead of the two he had 
ordered, he resigned it to me. After twenty minutes' 
sail from Kalai we came in sight^jbr the first time, of 
the columns of vapor appropriately called i smoke, 5 
rising at a distance of five or six miles, exactly as when 
large tracts of grass are burned in Africa. Five col- 
umns now arose, and, bending in the direction of the 
wind, they seemed placed against a low ridge covered 
with trees ; the tops of the columns at this distance 
appeared to mingle with the clouds. They were white 
below, and higher up became dark, so as to simulate 
smoke very closely. The whole scene was extremely 
beautiful ; the banks and islands dotted over the river 
are adorned with sylvan vegetation of great variety of 
color and form. At the period of our visit several 
trees were spangled over with blossoms. Some trees 
resemble the great spreading oak, others assume the 
character of our own elms and chestnuts ; but no one 
can imagine the beauty of the view from anything 
witnessed in England. It had never been seen before 
by European eyes; but scenes so lovely must have 
been gazed upon by angels in their flight. The only 
want felt is that of mountains in the background. The 
falls are bounded on three sidqs by ridges 300 or 400 
feet in height, which are covered with forest, with the 
red soil appearing among the trees. "When about half 
a mile from the falls, I left the canoe by which we had 



238 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 

come down thus far, and embarked in a lighter one, 
with men well acquainted with the rapids, who, by 
passing down the centre of the stream in the eddies 
and still places caused by many jutting rocks, brought 
me to an island situated in the middle of the river, and 
on the edge of the lip over which the water rolls. In 
coming hither there was danger of being swept down 
by the streams which rushed along on each side of the 
island; but the river was now low, and we sailed 
where it is totally impossible to go when the water is 
high. But, though we had reached the island, and 
were within a few yards of the spot, a view from 
which would solve the whole problem, I believe that 
no one could perceive where the vast body of water 
went ; it seemed to lose itself in the earth, the oppo- 
site lip of the fissure into which it disappeared being 
only 80 feet distant. At least I did not comprehend 
it until, creeping with awe to the verge, I peered 
down into a large rent which had been made from 
bank to bank of the broad Zambesi, and saw that a 
stream of a thousand yards broad leaped down a hun- 
dred feet, and then became suddenly compressed into 
a space of fifteen or twenty yards. The entire falls 
are simply a crack made in a hard basaltic rock from 
the right to the left bank of the Zambesi, and then 
prolonged from the left bank away through thirty or 
forty miles of hills. If one imagines the Thames filled 
with low, tree-covered hills immediately beyond the 
tunnel, extending as far as Gravesend, the bed of 
black basaltic rock instead of London mud, and a fis- 
sure made therein from one end of the tunnel to the 
other down through the keystones of the arch, and 



DOWN THE ZAMBESI. 239 

prolonged from the left end of the tunnel through 
thirty miles of hills, the pathway being 100 feet down 
from the bed of the river instead of what it is, with 
the lips of the fissure from 80 to 100 feet apart, then 
fancy the Thames leaping bodily into the gulf, and 
forced there to change its direction, and flow from the 
right to the left bank, and then rush boiling and roar- 
ing through the hills, he may hayeteome idea of what 
takes place at this, the most wonderful sight I had 
witnessed in Africa. In looking down into the fissure 
on the right of the island, one sees nothing but a 
dense white cloud, which, at the time we visited the 
spot, had two bright rainbows on it. (The sun was 
on the meridian, and the declination about equal to 
the latitude of the place). From this cloud rushed up 
a great jet of vapor exactly like steam, and it mounted 
200 or 300 feet high ; there condensing, it changed its 
hue to that of dark smoke, and came back in a con- 
stant shower, which soon wetted us to the skin. This 
shower falls chiefly on the opposite side of the fissure, 
and a few yards back from the lip there stands a 
straight hedge of evergreen trees, whose leaves are 
always wet. From their roots a number of little rills 
run back into the gulf, but, as they flow down the 
steep wall there, the column of vapor, in its ascent, 
licks tlxem up clean off the rock, and away they mount 
again. They are constantly running down, but never 
reach the bottom. 

" On the left of the island we see the water at the 
bottom, a white rolling mass moving away to the pro- 
longation of the fissure, which branches off near the 
left bank of the river. A piece of the rock has fallen 



240 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

off a spot on the left of the island, and juts out from 
the water below, and from it I judged the distance 
which the water falls to be about 100 feet. The walls 
of this gigantic crack are perpendicular, and composed 
of one homogeneous mass of rock. 

" On the left side of the island we have a good view 
of the mass of water which causes one of the columns 
of vapor to ascend, as it leaps quite clear of the rock, 
and forms a thick unbroken fleece all the way to the 
bottom. Its whiteness gave the idea of snow, a sight 
I had not seen for many a day. As it broke into (if I 
may use the term) pieces of water, all rushing on in 
the same direction, each gave off* several rays of foam 
exactly as bits of steel, when burned in oxygen gas, 
give off rays of sparks. The snow-white sheet seemed 
like myriads of small comets rushing on in one direc- 
tion, each of which left behind its nucleus rays of foam. 
I never saw the appearance referred to noticed else- 
where. It seemed to be the effect of the mass of water 
leaping at once clear of the rock, and but slowly break- 
ing up into spray. 

" I have mentioned that we saw live columns of 
vapor ascending from this strange abyss. They are evi- 
dently formed by the compression suffered by the force 
of the water's own fall into an unyielding wedge-shaped 
space. Of the five columns, two on the right and one 
on the left of the island were the largest, and the 
streams which formed them seemed each to ex- 
ceed in size the falls of the Clyde at Stonebyres when 
that river is in flood. This was the period of low 
water in the Leeambye ; bat, as far as I could guess, 
there was a flow of five or six hundred yards of water, 



DOWN THE ZAMBESI. 211 

which, at the edge of the fall, seemed at least three 
feet deep. 

" The fissure, is said by the Makololo to be very 
much deeper farther to the eastward ; there is one part 
at which the walls are so sloping that people accus- 
tomed to it can go down by descending in a sitting 
position. The Makololo on one occasion, pursuing 
some fugitive Batoka, saw ther%/imable to stop the 
impetus of their flight at the edge, literally dashed to 
pieces at the bottom. They beheld the stream like a 
' white cord' at the bottom, and so far down (probably 
300 feet) that they became giddy, and were faint to go 
away holding on to the ground. 

" Sekeletu and his large party having conveyed me 
thus far, and furnished me with a company of 114 men 
to carry the tusks to the coast, we bade adieu to the 
Makololo on the 20th of November, and proceeded 
northward to the Lekone. The country around is 
very beautiful, and was once well peopled with Batoka, 
who possessed enormous herds of cattle. When Sebit- 
uane came in former times, with his small but warlike 
party of Makololo, to this spot, a general rising took 
place of the Batoka through the whole country, in 
order to ' eat him up ;' but his usual success followed 
him, and, dispersing them, the Makololo obtained so 
many cattle that they could not take any note of the 
herds of sheep and goats. The tsetse has been brought 
by buffaloes into some districts where formerly cattle 
abounded. This obliged us to travel the first few 
stages by night. We could not well detect the nature 
of the country in the dim moonlight ; the path, how- 
ever, seemed to lead along the high bank of what may 
. 16 



24:2 TEA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

have been the ancient bed of the Zambesi before the 
fissure was made. The Lekone now winds in it in an 
opposite direction to that in which the ancient river 
must have flowed. 

" For a few days we travelled over an uninhabited, 
gently undulating, and most beautiful district, the bor- 
der territory between those who accept and those who 
reject the sway of the Makololo. The face of the coun- 
try appears as if in long waves, running north and 
south. There are no rivers, though water stands in 
pools in the hollows. We were now come into the 
country which my people all magnify as a perfect para- 
dise. Sebituane was driven from it by the Matebele. 
It suited him exactly for cattle, corn, and health. The 
soil is dry, and often a reddish sand ; there are few 
trees, but fine large shady ones stand dotted here and 
there over the country where towns formerly stood. 
One of the fig family I measured, and found to be 
forty feet in circumference; the heart had been burned 
out, and some one had made a lodging in it, for we 
saw the remains of a bed and a fire. The sight of the 
open country, with the increased altitude we were 
attaining, was most refreshing to the spirits. Large 
game abound. We see in the distance buffaloes, elands, 
hartebeest, gnus, and elephants, all very tame, as no 
one disturbs them. Lions, which always accompany 
other large animals, roared about us, but, as it was 
moonlight, there was no danger. In the evening, 
while standing on a mass of granite, one began to roar 
at 'me, though it was still light. 

" On the 3d of December we crossed the river 
Mozuma, or river of Dila, having travelled through a 



DOWN THE ZAMBESI. 243 

beautifully undulating pastoral country. To the south, 
and a little east of this, stands the hill Taba Cheu, or 
' White Mountains, 5 from a mass of white rock, prob- 
ably dolomite, on its top. But none of the hills are of 
any great altitude. The Mozuma, or river of Dila, 
was the first water-course which indicated that we 
were now on the slopes toward the eastern coast. It 
contained no flowing water, but repealed in its banks 
what gave me great pleasure at the time — pieces of lig- 
nite, possibly indicating the existence of a mineral, 
namely, coal, the want of which in the central country 
I had always deplored. Again and again we came to 
the ruins of large towns, containing the only hiero- 
glyphics of this country, worn mill-stones, with the 
round ball of quartz with which the grinding was 
effected. Great numbers of these balls were lying 
about, showing that the depopulation had been the 
result of war ; for, had the people removed in peace, 
they would have taken the balls with them. 

" When we had passed the outskirting villages, 
which alone consider themselves in a state of war 
with the'Makololo, we found the Batoka, or Batonga, 
as they here call themselves, quite friendly. Great 
numbers of them came from all the surrounding vil- 
lages with presents of maize and masuka, and ex- 
pressed great joy at the first appearance of a white 
man, and harbinger of peace. The women clothe 
themselves better than the Balonda, but the men go 
inpuris natur (dibits. They walk about without the 
smallest sense of shame. 

u The further we advanced, the more we found the 
country swarming with inhabitants. Great numbers 



24:4 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

came to see the white man, a sight they had never be- 
held before. They always brought presents of maize 
and masuka. Their mode of salutation is quite singular. 
They throw themselves on their backs on the ground, 
and, rolling from side to side, slap the outside of their 
thighs as expressions of thankfulness and welcome, 
uttering the words ' Kina bomba.' This method of 
salutation was to me very disagreeable, and I never 
could get reconciled to it. I called out, ' Stop, stop ; I 
don't want that ;' but they, imagining I was dissatis- 
fied, only tumbled about more furiously, and slapped 
their thighs with greater vigor." 

For nearly a month the party pushed slowly on, 
varying the monotony of the journey by hunting 
elephants, or overcoming difficulties occasioned by the 
greed or suspicion of the natives. In the latter cases, 
one of the Makololo, Sekwebu by name, was of great 
service. The party reached the Kafue on the 18th of 
December, and finally the Zambesi about the close of 
the year. 

" As we approached nearer the Zambesi," says 
Livingstone, "the country became covered with broad- 
leaved bushes, pretty thickly planted, and we had 
several times to shout to elephants to get out of our 
way. At an open space, a herd of buffaloes came 
trotting up to look at our oxen, and it was only by 
shooting one that I made them retreat. The meat 
is very much like that of an ox, and this one was very 
fine. The only danger we actually encountered was 
from a female elephant, with three young ones of 
different sizes. Charging through the centre of our 
extended line, and causing the men to throw down 



DOWN THE ZAMBESI. 245 

their burdens in a great hurry, she received a spear 
for her temerity. I never saw an elephant with more 
than one calf before. We knew that we were near our 
Zambesi again, even before the great river burst upon 
our sight, by the numbers of water-fowl we met. I 
killed four geese with two shots, and, had I followed 
the wishes of my men, could have secured a meal of 
water- fowl for the whole party. I never saw a river 
with so much animal life around and in it, and, as the 
Barotse say, ' Its fish and fowl are always fat.' When 
our eyes were gladdened by a view of its goodly broad 
waters, we found it very much larger than it is even 
above the falls. One might try to make his voice 
heard across it in vain. Its flow was more rapid than 
near Sesheke, being often four and a half miles an 
hour." 

During January and February, 1856, the party 
moved slowly eastward, encountering great difficul- 
ties from the hostility of the natives. More than once 
they were on the point of fighting, and the trouble 
was scarcely avoided, before a similar one would arise 
at the next settlement. At the confluence of the 
Loangwe, a large stream which comes down from the 
north, with the Zambesi, Livingstone found some re- 
mains of the old Portuguese station of Zumbo. Be- 
low this, he was obliged to cross the Zambesi, and 
take a direct route across the rough and dangerous 
region to the south of the river, directly towards Tete. 
This narrative is full of exciting details, which, how- 
ever, there is no space to reproduce here. We must 
pass on to the close of the eventful journey, and give 
bis account of the approach to the semi-civilization of 



246 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 

a Portuguese trading-port, on the eastern side of 'the 
continent : 

" Being pretty well tired out in the evening of the 
2d of March, I remained at about eight miles distance 
from Tete. My men asked me to go on ; I felt too 
fatigued to proceed, but sent forward to the command- 
ant the letters of recommendation with which I had 
been favored in Angola by the bishop and others, and 
lay down to rest. Our food having been exhausted, 
my men had been subsisting for some time on roots 
and honey. About two o'clock in the morning of the 
3d we were aroused by two officers and a company of 
soldiers, who had been sent with the materials for a 
civilized breakfast and a ' masheela ' to bring me to 
Tete. My companions thought that we were captured 
by the armed men, and called me in alarm. When I 
understood the errand on which they had come, and 
had partaken of a good breakfast, though I had just 
before been too tired to sleep, all my fatigue vanished. 
It was the most refreshing breakfast I ever partook of, 
and I walked the last eight miles without the least 
feeling of weariness, although the path was so rough 
that one of the officers remarked to me, ' This is 
enough to tear a man's life out of him.' The pleasure 
experienced in partaking of that breakfast was only 
equalled by the enjoyment of Mr. Gabriel's bed on my 
arrival at Loanda. It was also enhanced by the news 
that Sebastopol had fallen and the war was finished. 

" The village of Tete is built on a long slope down 
to the river, the fort being close to the water. The 
rock beneath is gray sand-stone, and has the appear- 
ance of being crushed away from the river : the strata 



DOWN THE ZAMBESI. 247 

have thus a crumpled form. The hollow between each 
crease is a street, the houses being built upon the pro- 
jecting fold. The rocks at the top of the slope are 
much higher than the fort, and of course completely 
command it. There is then a large valley, and beyond 
that anoblong hill called Karueira. The whole of the 
adjacent country is rocky and broken, but every avail- 
able spot is under cultivation, ^he stone houses in 
Tete are cemented with mud instead of lime, and 
thatched with reeds and grass. The rains, having 
washed out the mud between the stones, give all the 
houses a rough, untidy appearance. No lime was 
known to be found nearer than Mozambique; some 
used in making seats in the verandas had actually been 
brought all that distance. 

" There are about twelve hundred huts in all, which 
with European households would give a population of 
about four thousand five hundred souls. Only a small 
proportion of these, however, live on the spot ; the 
majority are engaged in agricultural operations in the 
adjacent country. Generally there are not more than 
two thousand people resident, for, compared with what 
it was, Tete is now a ruin. The number of Portuguese 
is very small ; if we exclude the military, it is under 
twenty. 

" As it was necessary to leave most of my men at 
this place, Major Sicard gave them a portion of land on 
which to cultivate their own food, generously supply- 
ing them with corn in the meantime. He also said 
that my young men might go and hunt elephants in 
company with his servants, and purchase goods with 
both the ivory and dried meat, in order that they 



248 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

might have something to take with them on their 
return to Sekeletu. The men were delighted with his 
liberality, and soon sixty or seventy of them set off to 
engage in this enterprise. There was no calico to be 
had at this time in Tete, but the commandant hand- 
somely furnished my men with clothing. I was in a 
state of want myself, and, though I pressed him to take 
payment in ivory for both myself and men, he refused 
all recompense. I shall ever remember his kindness 
with deep gratitude." 

After a good rest at Tete, Livingstone, heartily as- 
sisted by the Portuguese authorities, commenced his 
voyage down the Zambesi. He had now reached terri- 
tory w T hich was known, and the interest of his narra- 
tive ceases. The toils and privations of the journey 
were also over : he floated comfortably on through the 
fever-haunted lowlands of Eastern Africa, and on the 
20th of May reached the village of Kilimane. "It 
wanted," he says, " only a few days of being four years 
since I started from Capetown. Here I was received 
into the house of Colonel Galdino Jose Nunes, one of 
the best men in the country. I had been three years 
without hearing from my family ; letters having fre- 
quently been sent, but somehow or other, with but a 
single exception, they never reached me. I received, 
however, a letter from Admiral Trotter, conveying in- 
formation of their welfare, and some newspapers, which 
were a treat indeed. Her Majesty's brig the ' Frolic 5 
had called to inquire for me in the November previ- 
ous, and Captain Nolluth, of that ship, had most con- 
siderately left a case of wine ; and his surgeon, Dr. 
James Walsh, divining what I s'.ould need most, left 



DOWN THE ZAMBESI, 249 

an ounce of quinine. These gifts made my heart over- 
flow. I had not tasted any liquor whatever during 
the time I had been in Africa ; but when reduced in 
Angola to extreme weakness, I found much benefit 
from a little wine, and took from Loanda one bottle of 
brandy in my medicine chest, intending to use it if it 
were again required ; but the boy who carried it 
whirled the box upside down, and^sinashed the bottle, 
so I cannot give my testimony either in favor of or 
against the brandy. 

" Eight of my men begged to be allowed to come as 
far as Kilimane, and, thinking that they would there 
see the ocean, I consented to their coming, though the 
food was so scarce in consequence of a dearth that they 
were compelled to suffer some hunger. They would 
fain have come farther ; for when Sekeietu parted with 
them, his orders were that none of them should turn 
until they had reached Ma Robert and brought her 
back with them. On my explaining the difficulty of 
crossing the sea, he said, ' Wherever you lead, they 
must follow. 5 As I did not know well how I should 
get home myself, I advised them to go back to Tete, 
where food w r as abundant, and there await my return. 
I bought a quantity of calico and brass wire with ten 
of the smaller tusks which we had in our charge, and 
sent the former back as clothing to those w^ho remained 
at Tete. As there were still twenty tusks left, I depos 
ited them with Colonel Nunes, that, in the event of 
anything happening to prevent my return, the im- 
pression might not be produced in the county that I 
had made away with Sekeletu's ivory. I instructed 
Colonel Nunes, in case of my death, to sell the tusks 



250 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

and deliver the proceeds to my men ; but I intended, 
if my life should be prolonged, to purchase the goods 
ordered by Sekeletu in England with my own money, 
and pay myself on my return out of the price of the 
ivory. This I explained to the men fully, and they, 
understanding the matter, replied, i Nay, father, you 
will not die ; you will return to take us back to Sekel 
etu.' They promised to wait till I came back, and, on 
my part, I assured them that nothing but death would 
prevent my return. 

" After waiting about six weeks at this unhealthy 
spot, in which, however, by the kind attentions of 
Colonel Nunes and his nephew, I partially recovered 
from my tertian, H. M. brig ' Frolic ' arrived off Kili- 
mane. As the village is twelve miles from the bar, and 
the weather was rough, she was at anchor ten days 
before we knew of her presence about seven miles from 
the entrance to the port. She brought abundant sup- 
plies for all my need, and £150 to pay my passage 
home, from my kind friend Mr. Thompson, the Socie- 
ty's agent at the Cape. The admiral at the Cape 
kindly sent an offer of a passage to the Mauritius, 
w^hich I thankfully accepted. Sekwebu and one at- 
tendant alone remained with me now. He was very 
intelligent, and had been of the greatest service to me , 
indeed, but for his good sense, tact, and command of 
the language of the tribes through which we passed, 1 
believe we should scarcely have succeeded in reaching 
the coast. I naturally felt grateful to him ; and as hia 
chief wished all my companions to go to England with 
me, and would probably be disappointed if none went, 
I thought it would be beneficial for him to see the 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 251 

effects of civilization, and report them to his country- 
men ; I wished also to make some return for his very 
important services. Others had petitioned to come, 
but I explained the danger of a change of climate and 
food, and with difficulty restrained them. The only 
one who now remained begged so hard to come on 
board ship that I greatly regretted that the expense 
prevented my acceding to his ^Mi to visit England. 
I said to him ' You will die if you go to such a cold 
country as mine.' ' That is nothing, 5 he reiterated ; 
< let me die at your feet.' 

"We left Kilimane on the 12th of July, and 
reached the Mauritius on the 12th of August, 1856. 
Sekwebu was picking up English, and becoming a 
favorite with both men and officers. He seemed a 
little bewildered, everything on board a man-of-war 
being so new and strange ; but he remarked to me 
several times, ; Your countrymen are very agreeable,' 
and, 'What a strange country this is — all water to- 
gether ! ' He also said that he now understood why I 
used the sextant. When we reached the Mauritius a 
steamer came out to tow us into the harbor. The 
constant strain on his untutored mind seemed now to 
reach a climax, for during the night he became insane. 
I thought at first that he was intoxicated. He had 
descended into a boat, and, when I attempted to go 
down and bring him into the ship, he ran to the stern 
and said, ' No ! no ! it is enough that I die alone. You 
must not perish ; if you come, ' I shall throw myself 
into the water.' Perceiving that his mind was affec- 
ted, I said, i Now, Sekwebu, we are going to Ma 
Robert.' This struck a chord in his bosom, and he 



252 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

said, ' Oh, yes ; where is she, and where is Robert ? ' 
and he seemed to recover. The officers proposed to 
secure him by putting him in irons; but, being a 
gentleman in his own country, I objected, knowing 
that the insane often retain an impression of ill-treat- 
ment, and I could not bear to have it said in Seke- 
letu's country that I had chained one of his principal 
men as they had seen slaves treated. I tried to get 
him on shore by day, but he refused. In the evening 
a fresh accession of insanity occurred; he tried to 
spear one of the crew, then leaped overboard, and, 
though he could swim well, pulled himself down hand 
under hand by the chain cable. We never found the 
body of poor Sekwebu. 

" At the Mauritius I was most hospitably received 
by Major-General C. M. Hay, and he generously con- 
strained me to remain w r ith him till, by the influence 
of the good climate and quiet English comfort, I got 
rid of an enlarged spleen from African fever. In 
November I came up the Red Sea ; escaped the dan- 
ger of shipwreck through the admirable management 
of Captain Powell, of the Peninsular and Oriental 
Steam Company's ship l Candia,' and on the 12th of 
December was once more in dear old England." 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Magyar's journey to bihe. 

/ 

THE Hungarian traveller, Ladislaus Magyar, lias 
succeeded in nearly supplying our knowledge 
of the district lying between the route of Livingstone 
from the upper valley of the Zambesi to the western 
coast, and the most northern points reached by Ander- 
son and Green. 

Magyar, as his name indicates, was a Hungarian, 
a native of Theresiopol. He entered the Austrian 
navy in 1840, and, after various voyages, left the ser- 
vice in South America, and was employed by the 
Argentine Republic. The fleet of the latter power 
having been destroyed by that of Uruguay, he went 
to Brazil for a time, and afterwards engaged in the 
African trade, which he followed for two or three 
years. Partly from a passion for exploration, and 
partly from a desire to recover his health, which had 
been shattered by the deadly coast fever, he finally 
went to Benguela, the most southern Portuguese port, 
in order to settle himself in the healthier inland 
regions. 

The trading-town of Benguela, w T hich contains a 
population of about 3,000, has a climate which seems 
to be fatal to the white race. "A man of twenty-five," 
says Magyar, " when he has finally become acclimated, 
after a residence of two years, and usually after much 



254 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

suffering, looks like a man of thirty-five. If he re- 
mains eight or nine years longer, he has the appear- 
ance of one aged in mind and body, with white hair, 
sunken face, and toothless mouth. In from ten to 
twelve years the European race disappears." 

The inland region is inhabited by a number of 
negro tribes, who live in a state of continual war, yet, 
from their language and habits, appear to be of the 
same blood. They are called, collectively, the Kim- 
bunda. The country is threaded by the affluents of 
the Coanza River, which rises in Lat. 13° and flows 
northward over a table-land, 6,000 feet above the sea, 
to about Lat. 9°, where it turns westward, and emp- 
ties into the sea not far from St. Paul de Loanda. 
The land rises, from the coast, in successive terraces, 
each of which has its distinct climate and productions. 

The coast region is sandy, arid, and intensely hot. 
The tribe nearest to Benguela, called the Mundombe, 
is a strong and rather handsome race, but repulsive in 
its habits. Instead of bathing, they rub their bodies, 
every third day, with fat or butter, and soak their 
single cotton garments in the same, so tfcat they stick 
to their bodies. They live in huts but two or three 
feet high, built of sticks and mud, and always filled 
with smoke from the fires which they keep up, even in 
summer. They have herds of cattle, and also cultivate 
maize, beans, and manioc. 

Magyar remained but a short time in Benguela, in 
order to complete his arrangement for the journey to 
the native kingdom of Bihe, which comprises the ele- 
vated table-land of the interior. The caravans are in- 
frequent but large, on account of greater security. The 









If 






""■ ' :^l!l!fll!! 



MAGYAR'S JOURNEY TO BIHE. 255 

native or half-caste traders usually announce their in- 
tention beforehand, and the men who desire to join 
them as porters or assistants seek them of their own 
accord and offer their services. If the traders asked 
them to come, they would make themselves responsi- 
ble for any loss or injury which the latter might suffer. 
Men of other tribes go to their prophet, taking a goat 
as an offering, and ask his advice concerning the result 
of the journey. The prophet anoints parts of their 
bodies with the blood of the animal, and then sends 
them to the chief, who makes the sign of the tribes on 
their foreheads, with white paint. This is an African 
passport, which is always respected, and, singularly 
enough, is never counterfeited. 

Goods of all kinds are slung to poles, which are car- 
ried on the shoulders of the porters: travellers are 
obliged to lie in a hammock which is also suspended 
from a long pole, carried by two men, who are relieved 
by others from time to time. But the progress of the 
caravan, especially in marshes, forests, or the passes of 
the mountains, is exceedingly slow and toilsome, and 
the traveller is compelled to walk where the road is 
worst. 

The leader of the caravan from Bihe was very 
ready to accept Magyar's application to join him, since 
the presence of a European is considered an additional 
protection. The traveller also obtained a kissongo, or 
body-guard, — a man whose office was to attend him, 
watch over his property, and defend him in case of dan- 
ger. An interpreter, three slaves for personal service, 
and six hammock-bearers were also necessary. Provi- 
ded with these, and with the proper goods for trade 



256 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

with the natives, Magyar left Benguela on the 15th 
of January, 1849 — the middle of summer, and made 
his way across the burning lowlands towards the first 
range of mountains. 

In this region there was no sign of vegetable life 
except some leafless thorn-bushes and tufts of dried 
grass. The vertical sun shone so powerfully upon the 
heads of the travellers that even the natives com- 
plained of the heat, and made use of the tails of quag- 
gas as a sort of fan. As the elevation above the sea 
increased, trees began to appear, and the banks of the 
Katumbele River, beyond the first range af hills, were 
covered with a dense tropical vegetation. This stream 
was crossed by means of bamboo rafts, and the caravan 
was so large that many hours were required to trans- 
port all the men and goods to the other shore. 

A short distance beyond, they reached the first 
range of mountains — a wild chaos of black, volcanic 
peaks, where only thorns and aloes grew. The path 
mounted or fell along the brink of precipitous abysses, 
and the loose stones and pebbles frequently slid and 
gave way under the feet of the natives, who were 
obliged to march in single file, so that an accident to 
one delayed all the others in the rear. The bleached 
bones of men, at the bottoms of the chasms, were a 
ghastly evidence of the dangers of the road. From 
time to time, among the higher cliffs, they saw the 
forms of the wild, predatory tribes of the hills, ap- 
parently mustering their strength, and deliberating 
whether an attack might be ventured. In spite of 
the great fatigue of the journey, Magyar was so im- 
pressed with the grand character of the scenery, and 



MAGYAR'S JOURNEY TO BIHE. 257 

so refreshed by the purer atmosphere of the mountains, 
that he immediately began to receive his health and 
strength. 

He describes two cataracts in the higher regions, 
one of which, called Kahi, is of an unusual character. 
The river slides down a rock, having a declivity of 
eighty degrees, for a distance of 150 feet, is then 
dashed into foam upon a transverse ledge, and falls 
150 feet further into a black chasm, with a noise 
which may be heard for several miles. He also speaks 
of an.active volcano, further to the northward. It is 
an isolated cone, rising high above the other moun- 
tains, and discharging low jets of steam and flame at 
regular intervals. The natives consider that the 
crater is the residence of the spirits of their dead, and 
never dare to approach the mountain. 

The way led partly through wild passes, with 
running streams and luxuriant vegetation in their beds, 
partly over barren, stony hills, or across high table- 
lands, covered with a thick growth of grass. 

In proportion as they advanced eastward, the tropi- 
cal rains increased. Every afternoon the clouds gath- 
ered in dense masses, lightning and terrific thunder 
swept around the peaks, and rain, mixed with hail, 
poured in torrents. The mornings were cool and de- 
lightful, and the natives shivered in the showers shaken 
upon them by the wet foliage, until the sun was high 
enough to dry and warm them. On entering the 
Kissangi land, which is fertile and inhabited, the cara- 
van constructed a rude fortified camp every evening, 
and temporary huts were erected as a shelter from the 
rains. The inhabitants, who build their villages on 
17 



258 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

heights which are almost inaccessible, are inveterate 
robbers. 

Magyar was requested by the natives to assume 
command, of the caravan, as they believed it would 
thus become more formidable. This imposed upon 
him the duty of looking after the goods, appointing the 
guards, and directing the daily marches ; on the other 
hand, it gave him opportunities of learning the true 
method of dealing with the tribes of the interior. His 
first encounters with the chiefs of the villages were 
settled by some trifling presents; but, when the de- 
mands became more exorbitant, he was obliged to call 
the former leader of the caravan to his aid. It was 
necessary to put on a bold front, and more than once 
the members of the company armed themselves and 
prepared to resist an attack, which was probably pre- 
vented by their prompt show of courage. 

The leader of a band of the Bailunda tribe, from 
whom hostilities were expected, contented himself with 
a moderate present of brandy, powder and flints, with 
the condition that the white man should bring him the 
articles in person. He sent two women as hostages, 
and Magyar, although not fully trusting the leader's 
word, felt bound to comply. He found the camp di- 
vided into four regular quarters, with the commander's 
tent in the centre, designated by a red flag. The latter 
was the son-in-law of the king, and was a tall, strong, 
and rather handsome man. He was surrounded with 
his guards, interpreters, and servants. He first ad- 
dressed his troops, the musicians accompanying his 
words with the sound of their instruments. Then, 
turning to the traveller, he clapped his hands, and 



MA G YAR 'S JO URNE Y TO BIHE. 259 

thrice gave the salutation, " Peace be with you ! " He 
confessed that his officers had proposed to him to at- 
tack the caravan, but he had forbidden it, on account 
of his friendship for the white man. 

While the troops were drinking the beer w T hich 
they brew from maize, and beginning their savage 
dances, Magyar slipped away and returned to the cara- 
van. His men feared that the Batmndas would under- 
take an attack on their own account, in spite of the pro- 
tection which their chief had promised ; and, as these 
people usually attempt such undertakings in the early 
morning, the caravan was set in motion after night, 
marched unperceived past the Bailunda camp, and by 
morning was at a safe distance. 

The next adventure was one of a more agreeable 
nature. In the neighborhood of a place called Kan- 
dala, two negro-girls, clad in a semi-European fashion, 
came to Magyar's tent, addressed him in Portuguese, 
and offered him a present of figs, pine-apples, and 
bananas. They brought him a greeting from Donna 
Isabel, their mistress, who lived near at hand, and who 
requested permission to visit him. Her presence was 
soon announced by the chanting of the hammock- 
bearers. She was a lady of about twenty-two, with 
negro features, but a bright mulatto complexion. She 
was born in Benguela, but had lived in Brazil, and, 
after returning to Africa, had married a native trader 
and settled in the interior. Now, as his widow, she 
carried on his business profitably, while a number of 
slaves cultivated his fields. When Magyar returned 
his visit, she entertained him with a meal in the Euro- 
pean style. Seven years afterwards, he relates, her 
friendship was the means of saving his life. 



260 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

Beyond the Kissangi land lies the splendid tropical 
valley of the Kubale River, filled with mountain 
streams and cataracts, and rejoicing in a most luxuri- 
ant vegetation. Then followed a broad and lofty 
table-land, stretching eastward to the base of another 
and higher range of mountains, called the Lingi-Lingi. 
Herds of buffaloes, zebras, and antelopes pastured on 
the rich grasses of the plain, and the natives immedi- 
ately organized a hunting-party. The sight of the 
buffaloes, however, so alarmed Magyar that he climbed 
to the top of a huge ant-hill, and his nervous excite- 
ment was so great when the first beast stormed past, 
that he was unable to pull the trigger. He threw 
away the flint, and pretended to have lost it, lest the 
natives should detect his lack of the coolness necessary 
to a hunter. The former succeeded in killing seven 
of the animals, which gave them all a banquet of the 
tough flesh. 

After encountering a terrific storm at the base of 
the Lingi-Lingi Mountains, they commenced the as- 
cent. The path led for a time through huge forests, 
matted together with vines and parasitic plants, then 
slowly emerged upon open slopes, and wound in zig- 
zags around the peaks, frequently along the verge of 
immense chasms. Magyar describes the scenery as 
imposing in its grandeur and the variety of its forms. 
The mountain peaks exhibited the most singular and 
grotesque forms. Some were clothed w 7 ith pines ; 
others were pinnacles of naked rock; and between 
them all the noise of cataracts resounded from the 
deeps. At the summit, about 5,000 feet above the 
sea, commenced another table-land, from the lofty 



cy 



MAGYAR 'S JOURNEY TO BIHE. 261 

level of which the mountain-ranges far to the east and 
west were visible, like lines of cloud. 

The former of these ranges, called the Djamba, 
was the remaining barrier to be passed before reach- 
ing the country of Bihe. Between it and the Lingi- 
Lingi range lies the land of Hambo, not of great ex- 
tent, but widely known for the warlike and plunder- 
ing habits of its people. The irfafch of the caravan 
across this region was fortunately not interrupted by 
any attack, but it was rendered slow and difficult by 
the rains, which had soaked the soil and swollen all 
the streams. At last they reached the wooded base- 
hills, above which tower the bald granite summits of 
the Djamba range. In spite of the difficulties of the 
ascent, the natives all shouted and sang at the pros- 
pect of so soon reaching their homes. Thunders 
from the peaks answered their songs, and in spite of 
their exertions, they were drenched by a furious 
rain long before reaching the summit. Magyar caught 
a fever from the exposure, but the caravan rested on 
the following day, and he was able to cure himself by 
a simple sudorific process. 

The Djamba negroes, who inhabit the upper part 
of the mountains, and form an independent little re- 
public of their own, came to visit the camp. They 
were a strong and finely-formed race, but rather im- 
pudent in their ways. One of them related to Magyar 
that he had formerly been the slave of a white man 
who lived in the mountains. This appeared to have 
been a Portuguese named Cota, an exile from Brazil, 
who, sixteen years before, had led an adventurous life 
in the interior. The Djamba stated that he had dis- 



262 TEA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 

covered gold in the mountains, and employed the na- 
tives to wash it out from the sands. On account of 
his cruelty and violence he had provoked their hos- 
tility, but succeeded in escaping to Benguela, whence 
he returned to Brazil. 

The caravan now continued its journey across the 
highest table-land of Sambos, which is probably 6,000 
feet above the sea. Here the dark, rich soil is of a 
sandy character, and the numerous streams form ex- 
tensive swamps and pools. The plain is dotted with 
little hills, upon which the natives build their villages, 
which are shaded with groups of trees resembling the 
sycamore. Towards the close of the journey, they 
were visited by a hail-storm so severe that the ground 
was covered as with a crust of ice. But this was the 
last of their hardships: they had reached the frontiers 
of Bihe, and the company of nearly 2,000 persons be- 
gan to divide into little squads and scatter towards 
their different homes. Messengers had been sent in 
advance, to announce their coming, so that the women 
could brew maize-beer, and even carry it to meet 
them on the last stage of the march. 

Nearly all Magyar's servants and porters here left 
him, refusing to appear before their families in that 
character: only the Mssongo and his relatives re- 
mained faithful, for they considered the white man as 
their guest, and their families had been instructed to 
prepare for his reception. They now pushed forward 
with great impatience, delayed only by too copious in- 
dulgence in beer, and in two or three days more arrived 
at their home. There Magyar was received with great 
kindness. After the first salutations were over, one of 



MAGYAR'S JOURNEY TO BIHE. 263 

the porters commenced a recital of everything that had 
occurred during his absence of 116 days, omitting not 
the smallest incident. 

Magyar's chief object being to establish his resi- 
dence in Bihe as a base for further explorations, his first 
care was to send a messenger with presents to the king, 
asking his permission to build a house. The answer 
came in five days ; the king sent ^friendly greeting, 
and gave his permission, but added the request that the 
stranger could pay him a formal visit as soon as he had 
completed his dwelling. 

Magyar was at liberty to take any piece of land 
which had not been already claimed and occupied by 
some one else. The country around the home of his 
Mssongo was so attractive that his only difficulty was 
what point to select. He finally made choice of a beau- 
tiful little valley, with a clear swift rivulet in its bed. 
Forests and meadows alternated in the landscape, and 
every hill in the distance was crowned with a native vil- 
lage. The character of the scenery was so charming 
that he declared to his attendants that he would fix his 
residence there. To his great annoyance, the latter 
informed him that a notorious wizard had been execu- 
ted on the spot, a year before, and since then the evil 
spirits had taken possession of the whole neighborhood. 
Foreseeing that the natives would resist his attempts 
to settle there, Magyar had recourse to one of their ex- 
orcising priests, to whom he presented a fat hog and 
several yards of cotton cloth, begging him to drive away 
the hateful spirits. The priest slaughtered a goat, 
marked several hieroglyphics with its blood on Mag- 
yar's arm and breast, blew three blasts through the horn 



264 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

of a gazelle, and the evil spirits immediately fled from 
the beautiful valley, leaving it free to human habitation. 

As soon as the news became known, people came 
from all the neighboring villages, to be employed in 
the building of the house. The men felled trees in 
the forests, while the women and children cut the long 
grass of the meadows to thatch the roofs. In order to 
assure himself of the proper respect and consideration, 
it was necessary for the stranger to build a large dwel- 
ling, and employ at least fifty slaves or servants. In 
the material and character of the structure, he imitated 
the houses of the people, except that his was square, 
instead of being circular in form. First a large stock- 
ade was made of posts of iron-wood, with loop-holes 
for musketry. Inside of this were the slave-quarters 
and store-houses ; then a second palisaded inclosure, 
with the house of the future lord and his family. The 
walls were of strong palisades, plastered with clay, and 
whitewashed, so that the residence had a semi-civilized 
appearance. 

The people worked lustily to secure the w T hite 
man a home before he could have time to change his 
mind. The women, especially, desired him to remain 
among them, not on account of his complexion and fea- 
tures, which were very disagreeable to them, but 
because he possessed such a store of trinkets, many of 
which they hoped to secure in the course of time. 
There was no trouble in procuring all the labor re- 
quired. It is not advantageous, however, to employ 
those who are free, since they are only willing to ren- 
der special services: the greater part of the labor falls 
upon slaves, or a class of retainers, w T hose work is pur- 



MA G YAR ' S JO URNE Y TO BIHE. 265 

chased in advance, and who are bound to do whatever 
is required of them. For twenty yards of cotton 
cloth, apiece, Magyar purchased as many of the latter 
class as he needed, and the additional applications 
were so numerous that he was finally obliged to keep 
them forcibly at a distance. It is not more difficult to 
support such a retinue of followers, than to obtain 
them. The cultivation of the soil/is carried on exclu- 
sively by the women, while the men build, hunt, and 
fish. As soon as a young man has earned the price of 
a wife he marries, in order to have his fields cultivated. 
The married slaves are obliged to help support the 
unmarried, as well as to furnish food for the master. 
The latter is only expected to clothe his slaves with a 
single narrow garment, and give them a few yards of 
cloth twice a year. 

As soon as the residence was completed, Magyar 
made preparations to visit the king of Bihe, whose capi- 
tal, Kombala, was about two days' journey distant. 
The nearer he drew, the more desolate and uninhab- 
ited the country became ; the African rulers employ 
their power to plunder those of their subjects who are 
nearest at hand. The town was built, like the vil- 
lages, on the summit of a hill, shadowed by huge trees. 
A narrow foot-path led up the steep and rocky height, 
to the gate of the town, where the traveller, with his 
native attendants, was obliged to wait an hour before 
entrance was allowed them. Within the gate there 
was a large grassy square, surrounded with trees, be- 
yond which appeared the low, miserable huts and dirty 
streets of the town, crowded with a curious multitude 
of people. 



263 TRA VELS IN SO UTH AFRICA . 

Further on, he reached a shady square, with wooden 
benches, the place where the inhabitants were ac- 
customed to meet and discuss public affairs. The 
people were more carefully dressed, and exhibited a 
greater refinement and tact in their manners, than 
those of the villages. After Magyar had again waited 
for a time, a messenger came to announce that the 
king would see him on the morrow ; in the meantime 
he was invited to rest and refresh himself. A hut was 
given up to his use, provisions in abundance were 
brought, and only the troublesome curiosity of the 
natives prevented him from being comfortable. 

The next morning an officer of the court came to 
conduct him to the palace, which was a large labyrinth 
of buildings, inclosed by a high palisade. The outer 
gate was profusely decorated with human heads, some 
of them bleached to the bone, others fresh as if just 
placed there. Having passed this, with a feeling that 
he was entering the den of a lion, Magyar was con- 
ducted by many winding ways to a door in an inner 
palisade-wall, through which he finally reached the 
royal court-yard. After waiting here for another half- 
hour, the sound of bells announced the approach of 
the king. He entered, took r his seat on a sort of 
throne, over which was suspended a lion's hide, while 
a page knelt at his feet and a servant with a quagga's 
tail stood behind him. On either side the chiefs and 
warriors of the court, with their hair twisted into the 
shape of a helmet, arranged themselves in rows : as 
weapons they bore long guns, lances, and wooden 
clubs. 

The king, whose name was Kayaya-Kayangula, 



MAGYAR'S JOURNEY TO BIHE, 267 

was about 50 years old, and of a tall, lean figure. His 
features were tolerably regular, and would have been 
agreeable, but for his keen, cunning eyes. He wore a 
kind of turban on his head, a wide blue robe, and a 
gayly-striped shawl over his shoulders. The claws of 
a lion, set in gold, hung as a talisman on his breast, 
and he held a small dagger in his hand. When he 
had taken his seat, he thrice greeted Magyar, who had 
also seated himself on a camp-stool, with the usual 
salutation : " Peace be with you ! " — to which the 
latter answered, as he had been instructed : " Also 
with you, princely father ! " while the warriors shouted 
in chorus : " Hail, mighty Lion ! raging Lion ! " 
Then Magyar's Tcissongo related all the incidents of 
the journey, and stated his master's wish to make his 
home in the land of Bihe, and to visit the other tribes 
of the interior. This statement lasted more than half 
an hour, because, although it was made in the language 
of the country, every word must be repeated to the 
king by one of his own officers. 

The " raging Lion" listened patiently, and at the 
end expressed his satisfaction. His answer was : " You 
have honored me, white man, with the confidence you 
have placed in me, in giving up the comforts which 
you enjoyed at home, among your own people, and 
coming here to settle among us. Therefore, be wel- 
come ! I take you under my protection, and woe be to 
them who shall dare to injure your person or your 
property! I grant to you the right of hospitality 
which has been given by our ancestors, and my people 
must know and respect it." The twenty principal 
chiefs repeated their former salutation, as an accept 



268 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

ance of the king's words, and the traveller thus be- 
came an honorary citizen of Bihe. 

The king, it appeared, had visited the coast, where 
he had seen ships, and was greatly impressed with the 
knowledge and courage of the European race. Magyar 
endeavored to persuade him that the negroes might 
procure for themselves many of the things for which 
they were most dependent on the whites, if they 
would only be more industrious. They might, for 
instance, raise and weave their own cotton, besides 
learning many other simple arts, which would be of 
great service. The king admitted the truth of this, 
but added that he was surrounded with such dishonest 
persons, that it would be impossible for him to intro- 
duce any such changes. At the end of the audience 
Magyar was conducted to his hut, and a festival, in 
which all the natives took part, closed the day. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Magyar's journeys in the interior. 

/ 

DURING the evening aftef^iis reception at the 
palace, Magyar was surprised by a visit from the 
king. The latter privately informed him of his inten- 
tion to undertake a foray upon a neighboring tribe, and 
insisted on his accompanying the expedition. Under 
the circumstances, a refusal did not seem politic, and 
Magyar therefore temporarily agreed, in the hope that 
some means of escape from the unwelcome obligation 
would yet be found. 

Before continuing the history of his personal adven- 
tures, we will here give his account of the manner in 
which the rule of the royal family of Bihe has been 
perpetuated for nearly three centuries. As soon as the 
king appears to be so ill that his death is probable, the 
chiefs nearest to him in authority separate him from 
his family and servants, and themselves carry on the 
government until his death. When this last circum- 
stance is announced his many wives make a loud outcry, 
and thus proclaim it to the people of the capital. The 
heir to the throne is the eldest son of the king's eldest 
sister, because the people consider that the purity of 
blood is transmitted through woman, not through 
man. For this reason, when a male slave marries a 
free woman, his children are free. But the hereditary 
prince is not allowed to live in the neighborhood of the 



270 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

reigning king : he dare not even visit the latter ; and 
he is therefore quietly brought up in some remote part 
of the country. When the king is dead, the prince is 
escorted to the vicinity of the capital where a tempor- 
ary camp is pitched, while the corpse, sewed up in a 
fresh ox-hide, is committed to the earth, in the midst 
of a number of slaughtered slaves. 

The best warriors of the nation then assemble at 
the camp, and plan an expedition against some neigh- 
boring tribe, chiefly for the purpose of obtaining cap- 
tives. When the foray has succeeded, and a sufficient 
number of prisoners, of both high and low rank, have 
been secured, the warriors return home. One of the 
former is then chosen as a special offering, but this is 
strictly kept secret from him. He is allowed a certain 
degree of liberty, is invited to all the festivals, fed and 
entertained in the best manner, and finally, in the 
midst of some inebriated dance, his head is suddenly 
struck off by a slave who steals behind him. His body 
is then cooked with the flesh of dogs and buffaloes, and 
eaten by the chiefs. Then, first, the new prince is pro- 
claimed king, and enters on his reign. 

Magyar returned to his settlement, and imme- 
diately began the cultivation of his fields. Something 
of his prestige was lost, however, when he took hold 
of the hoe and spade, in order to teach his slaves a 
better method of turning up the soil. It was there- 
fore all the more necessary that he should conform to 
the prejudices of the people in other respects, espe- 
cially in employing the native wizards, when any of 
his people were sick. This last expedient was the 
means of releasing him from the promise which he 



MAGYAR'S JOURNEYS IN THE INTERIOR, 271 

had made to the king. As the time for the expedi- 
tion drew near, he complained of pains in the body, 
and bad dreams, which the wizards declared were 
produced by evil spirits. Magyar then explained to 
them that his participation in the foray was pro- 
hibited by the laws of his land, and this was proba- 
bly a punishment sent upon him for intending to vio- 
late them. cJ 

The magicians, after a careful physical examina- 
tion of the patient, retired into the forest to consult. 
They finally decided that an evil spirit had entered 
into Magyar's body, and would surely kill him if he 
should accompany the expedition ; but the spirit could 
only be exorcised by slaughtering an ox, and sending 
presents to the king. The ox having been furnished, 
certain figures were painted with the blood on 
Magyar's forehead, breast and arms, and a piece of 
cotton with the same marks was forwarded to the 
king, together with a keg of powder and some bottles 
of brandy. The cure was effectual ; the evil spirit 
departed, the king absolved the stranger from his 
promise, and — as a further evidence of his favor — sent 
him his daughter, the princess Osoro, as a wife. 

Magvar found the second dilemma less formid- 
able than the first. An unmarried man always ex- 
cites suspicion and distrust among the African tribes, 
and the security of his later residence among the peo- 
ple was assured by his acceptance of the princess as a 
bride. The latter was 14 years old, tall and slender, 
and with as much grace and amiability as could be 
expected of any 13ihe maiden. She came to him 
under the escort of two of her brothers, and followed 



272 TEA VMLS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

by a numerous retinue of slaves, and the wedding was 
immediately celebrated. Magyar seems never to 
have regretted his compliance. The princess Osoro 
adapted herself to his habits, took care of his house- 
hold, and became the mother of several children, one 
of whom was one of the prospective heirs to the 
throne of Bihe. 

His experiments in agriculture were less success- 
ful. The people cultivate maize, manioc, and beans, 
but have a prejudice against potatoes and other veg- 
etables which he introduced, and his only success was 
in substituting tobacco for the hemp which they had 
been accustomed to smoke. They raise cattle, sheep, 
pigs and fowls, and have great semi-annual hunts, 
when the men of the tribe assemble, surround a dis- 
trict of country and slaughter all the game which is 
caught in their toils. They are less skilled in fishing, 
since they do not know how to construct nets. They 
exhibit some natural skill as blacksmiths, but are de- 
ficient in all other mechanical arts. 

The family life of the people presents some singu- 
lar features. As soon as a young man is able to pur- 
chase a wife, he marries ; and his ambition is to have 
at least two, since it is the wife's duty to support her 
husband, and the more wives he has, the better is his 
chance to be supported in idleness and luxury. The 
women favor polygamy, for the reason that it makes 
their own labor lighter. The husband has not the 
slightest authority over his own children. This be- 
longs to the brother of the mother, who may do as he 
pleases with them, — even sell them as slaves. Divor- 
ces are easy and frequent, but the right is exercised 



MAGYAR'S JOURNEYS IN THE INTERIOR. 273 

more frequently by women than by men. The great 
delight of the latter is to lie on the ground, smoke 
and gossip all day, and listen or dance to music in the 
evening. 

Magyar was obliged to wait for favorable opportu- 
nities of penetrating further into the interior, since he 
meant to combine trade with exploration. His choice 
of residence proved to be fortunatgy' The Kimbundas 
not only learn with much readiness the languages and 
habits of other tribes, but they are curious, adventur- 
ous, and always ready for journeys into new regions. 
The principal article of commerce is ivory, and, as 
neither the elephant nor the rhinoceros is found on 
the high table-lands of Bihe, a proposal to procure sup- 
plies further inland seemed quite reasonable to the 
natives. 

Magyar had heard much of a country to the north- 
east, called Moluwa, — a temperate highland region, 
full of forests and with plentiful herds of elephants. 
In 1850, he succeeded in gathering together a caravan 
of about 400 persons, and set out on a journey to the 
Moluwa country. There had been no caravans thither 
from Bihe for several years, because former ones had 
come in conflict with the half-breed traders from Lo- 
anda, and suffered from the collision. But Magyar's 
proposal attracted a number of the best warriors and 
elephant-hunters, who volunteered to accompany him. 
The king gave his permission, although informed that 
the princess Osoro would accompany her husband. 
Starting in May, the caravan followed the old native 
foot-paths, leading eastward towards the Coanza River. 

The country is covered with lakes and pools 



271 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

during tlie rainy season, which become marshes in the 
dry months. The first district east of Bihe is called 
Kimbandi, a hilly, fertile country, watered by nu- 
merous affluents of the Coanza. The latter river is 
crossed at a place called Kirjo, where the caravans 
usually halt, to supply themselves with provisions for 
the march through the wilderness beyond. The Kim- 
bandi people are thievish and treacherous, but not 
hostile to travellers. Their territory is bounded on 
the east by the forests of Olowihenda, which form a 
belt of division between the western and the central 
regions of the continent. 

These forests cover a mountain-chain which 
stretches north and south through several degrees of 
latitude. Towards its northern extremity (where Liv- 
ingstone afterwards crossed,) they have a breadth of 
eight days' journey, but further south, a caravan re- 
quires sixteen days in order to pass them. The monot- 
ony of the dense woods is only occasionally broken by 
swampy meadows or large pools of water. On account 
of the streams and morasses, beasts of burden cannot 
be used, but all goods are slowly and painfully carried 
forward on the shoulders of men. The elephant and 
rhinoceros are here found in great herds, and the lion 
is also an old inhabitant. 

The animal most feared is the buffalo. Magyar 
states that during his many journeys he lost but two 
of his men from lions, but a large number from the 
attacks of the buffaloes. It is true that the former is 
avoided, while the latter is followed on account of his 
flesh. If the first shot is not fatal, and the hunter 
does not succeed in instantly reaching a place of safety, 



MAGYAR'S JOURNEYS IN THE INTERIOR. 275 

he is inevitably tossed into the air, and then stamped 
to death by the sharp hoofs of the beast. The first 
impression made by these great tropical forests is 
solemn and imposing ; the silence, the luxuriance of 
the vegetation, and its strange forms, excite the im- 
agination; but in a short time the scenery becomes 
very monotonous and oppressive. , 

A singular race of human beings is sometimes 
encountered in this wilderness. They are called by the 
natives Mu-Kankala, and Magyar describes them as 
the most miserable creatures he ever beheld. They 
are not more than four feet in height, of a rusty yel- 
low color, and with features which seem a caricature 
of the human face. Their legs are very thin ; the 
round, protruding abdomen takes up one-third of the 
body; the lean neck bears a large head, with a per- 
fectly flat face, in which wide mouth and nostrils, and 
small twinkling eyes are inserted. Their ears are 
like flaps, and their hair is very short and woolly. 
They appear to be a peaceable people, and unusually 
honest in their intercourse w T ith strangers. They 
brought ivory, honey, wax, and dried meat to the 
caravan, and exchanged these articles for tobacco and 
glass beads. These poor people are hunted like wild 
beasts by the neighboring tribes, captured and sold as 
slaves. Some of the latter, whom Magyar bought, 
served him with great fidelity and did not leave him 
even while passing through their own country. 

After reaching the eastern boundary of the Olowi- 
henda forests, the highlands give place to a picturesque 
mountainous region, inhabited by the Chibokoe tribe, 
who gave Livingstone so much trouble when he passed 



276 TRA VELS IN SO UTH AFRICA. 

through a portion of their territory. Magyar com- 
pares the region to Switzerland. The mountains are 
mostly isolated conical peaks, divided by deep, wind- 
ing and moist valleys, which are very fruitful and in- 
habited by a dense population. The people raise 
maize, sorghum, beans and tobacco, and are much bet- 
ter mechanics than those of Bihe. The forests are 
rich in game and wild honey. 

The climate of this region is cool rather than tropical. 
In July, Magyar sometimes found that vessels of w T ater 
were covered with a thin crust of ice in the early morn- 
ing, while the ground was once or twice white with 
frost. The mountain streams unite to form four con- 
siderable rivers which flow to the northward and ap- 
pear to be affluents of the great river Kasay. None 
of the villages contain more than a thousand inhabi- 
tants : they are simply collections of straw huts, in the 
forests, and each one is known by the name of its chief. 

The eastern portion of the Chibokoe country sinks 
into a great marshy plain which stretches to the Kasay 
River. Here commences the Moluwa kingdom, which 
Magyar declares to be the most powerful in Central 
Africa. He seems to confound it with that of Cazembe, 
the name of which is given by other travellers as Lon- 
da, while the king is called the Muata-janvo. Mag- 
yar's account of the Moluwa king corresponds with 
that given of the former by Portuguese traders. He 
enjoys more than human reverence: his subjects do 
not dare to approach him except creeping on all fours, 
and casting handfuls of earth upon their heads. His 
power over their goods and lives is absolute and cruelly 
exercised, and the people dare to disobey his com- 



MA GYAR'S JO URNE YS IN THE INTERIOR. 277 

mands only in the remote provinces. Magyar was un- 
able to ascertain the exact boundaries of the kingdom, 
but conjectured that it reached to Lat. 4° N. — a length 
of nearly 1200 miles, with a breadth of about 400 from 
east to west. His geographical notes, however, are fre- 
quently confused, and the accounts he gives require to 
be tested by those of Livingstone and other travellers. 

Since the falling off of the slave-trade, the princi- 
pal article of commerce is ivory. Wax is very plenti- 
ful, but the difficulty of transport is too great to make 
it profitable. In the northern and eastern parts of the 
kingdom there are immense forests full of herds of ele- 
phants, the tusks of which often weigh 120 pounds 
each. The price of them is kept up by the competi- 
tion of the Portuguese from the western and the Arab 
merchants from the eastern coast, although the two, or 
their agents, very rarely come in contact. Strings of 
cowries and white beads are used as money, as well as 
coils of copper wire, which the natives smelt from mal- 
achite. The have also iron of excellent quality, from 
which they forge swords and lances. 

Magyar describes the Moluwa people as surpassing 
in intellectual capacity all the other South-African 
races. They have a tolerably well-organized social sys- 
tem, based upon certain traditions of their race, and are 
usually friendly and polite in their intercourse with 
strangers. On the other hand they are governed by 
the grossest forms of superstition, and still, on certain 
occasions, offer up human sacrifices. 

He remained more than a year among them, tak- 
ing up a temporary residence on the banks of the 
Kasay River, where he cultivated tobacco for his own 



"278 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

use. The natives, who had previously smoked the 
leaves of hemp, soon learned to prefer the new plant, 
and began also to raise it. Further to the north, the 
people cultivate sugar-cane, pine-apples, bananas, and 
the oil-bearing palm. An unusual quantity of fruit is 
produced in the neighborhood of Kabebo, the capital 
town. This place contains a population of about 
50,000, but covers, since each house stands within its 
own separate inclosure, an area of eight or ten square 
miles. It is built on an undulating plain, falling 
towards the east. Streams of fresh water flow through 
the streets, which are laid out at right angles, and 
shaded with rows of large trees. The houses are one 
story high and thatched with straw ; those of the king 
and princes are larger and loftier, but none of them 
have two stories. There are also several spacious mar- 
ket-places, which are always crowded when a caravan 
arrives from the coast with European goods. 

The dead kings are always buried in the town of 
Galanje, further to the northward. Each has his own 
particular vault, covered with a conical roof of straw : 
he is laid in the centre, dressed in his richest garments, 
and surrounded with the bodies of the slaves who are 
slain to accompany him. Two of the latter are always 
spared, to take care of the grave, which is kept open so 
long as the dead king's successor lives, when it is 
closed forever. 

The Moluwa kingdom appears, nevertheless, to be 
but thinly populated : Magyar estimates the entire 
population at not more than one million. In the 
districts to the north-east the villages are large and 
near together, but there are other parts of the country 



MAGYAR'S JOURNEYS IN THE INTERIOR. 279 

where the traveller finds no settlement in a day's 
journey. The villages are generally built in the 
forests, but each is surrounded with its belt of cultiva- 
ted land, which gives the impression of a bright oasis 
in the dark tropical wilderness. Towards the east 
the country becomes lower, the forests entirely disap- 
pear, and there are vast grassy plains, some of which 
become lakes during the rainy ^ason. It is to be 
regretted that Magyar was unable to determine the 
latitude and longitude of the points he reached. His 
travels fill much of the space between that explored 
by Livingstone and the Lake Tanganyika, discovered 
by Burton ; but he is not an exact reporter, and his 
explorations are thus deprived of their legitimate value. 

During his residence in the Moluwa country, a 
son was born to him, to whom he gave the name 
of u Shah-Kilambe-Gonga." He seems to have been 
greatly flattered with the idea that a semi-Hungarian 
prince might one day inherit one of the barbaric 
thrones of Africa. And in fact, in the year 1854, he 
was visited by a special embassy from the rulers of 
Galangue and Sambos, claiming his child as their near 
relative, and endowing him with the rank and rights 
which appertained to a member of the royal house of 
Bihe. 

In the year 1851 he called his caravan together, 
and set out on the return towards his adopted home, 
taking a more southern route, which led him through 
the district called Lobal, and across the upper end of 
the Zambesi valley, although he was not aware of the 
fact. He passed indeed over a small portion of the 
route afterwards traversed by Livingstone, skirting 



280 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

the Dilolo lake, and, like the latter traveller, leading 
his caravan through the marshes which surround it. 
He speaks of the lake as being full of fish, which the 
natives catch in great quantities, but, as they dry them 
without the use of salt, the taste is insupportable to a 
civilized palate. In the marshes around the lake there 
are also great snakes which are often found in com- 
panies of a dozen or more, coiled together in the 
grass. His followers did not show the least fear of 
the reptiles, but eagerly attacked them, and after- 
wards roasted and partook of their flesh as a great 
delicacy. 

Magyar's description of the swampy plains around 
Lake Dilolo corresponds exactly with Livingstone's, of 
whose later visit to the same region he was apparently 
ignorant. He describes the land of Lobal, west of the 
lake, as a region of plains which are inundated during 
the rainy season, dotted with wooded hills, which then 
become islands. He speaks of the Niambedji River 
in the east, and this is undoubtedly the Leeambye of 
Livingstone. He estimates the population of Lobal at 
200,000,— people of vigorous and well-proportioned 
physical character, but treacherous and unfriendly. 
They will receive the stranger with every show of hospi- 
tality, and the next day lie in wait to plunder him. In- 
stead of forming a nation like that of Moluwa or Bihe, 
each region has its petty chief or chieftainess, whose 
relations with his or her neighbors are hostile rather 
than friendly. They frequently attack each other 
with the design of making slaves of the other's people, 
as if there were no relationship of blood between them. 
The caravans which pass through Lobal always pur- 



MAGYAR'S JOURNEYS IN THE INTERIOR. 281 

chase a quantity of slaves from the petty chiefs, and 
afterwards exchange them for ivory with other tribes. 
In some of his later journeys Magyar again visited 
the Lobal country. Some slaves whom he had purchased 
on his first visit accompanied him, but not one of them 
attempted to desert and remain in his native land. 
He describes one of the chiefs, named Kinjama, as a 
man more than a hundred years old!, who received him 
with the greatest kindness. A strong contrast to him 
is another chief named the Parroquet, in the eastern 
part of the country, who is famous for his cruelty and 
his exactions upon travellers. The result was that the 
caravans, whenever it was possible, made a wide detour 
rather than pass through his territory. 

Magyar took a south-western course through 
Lobal, and entered the Buunda region, passing ita 
capital, Kissembo. Here he again struck the Olowi- 
henda forests, which he crossed in a westerly direction, 
and returned to his residence in Bihe. For four or 
live years he seems to have made an extensive caravan 
journey every year, and to have followed his original 
plan of penetrating gradually further towards the east 
and south. Unfortunately, he has given us no detailed 
account of any of these journeys, the extent and char- 
acter of which w T e can only conjecture from his frag- 
mentary notes. The year after his return from the 
Moluwa kingdom, he made a journey to the country 
of the Kilengues, lying further to the south, and the 
year afterwards (1853) he claims to have reached the 
Kunene River, which was sought for so persistently by 
Anderson and Green, and to have explored a consider- 
able portion of its course. 



282 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

Daring this journey he visited the Portuguese 
" Presidio de Caconda," of which he gives a curious 
account. It lies far in the interior, not far from the 
head-waters of the Kunene River, and contains about 
3,000 inhabitants. The fort and town are surrounded 
with walls of earth, and palisades, and defended by eight- 
cannon, but the garrison consists of only a single com- 
pany of negro soldiers, under the command of the Gov- 
ernor. Formerly there was an important trade between 
this point and the coast, but with the breaking up of 
the traffic in slaves it has fallen off. The climate is 
comparatively cool and healthy, w T hence the Portuguese 
traders who once settled here, took negro wives, and 
produced a race of mulattoes who still inhabit the 
place. 

On his return from this southern journey, Magyar's 
caravan was attacked by a band of robbers, in the for- 
ests of Lusseke. After a prolonged fight, the enemy 
was driven off with considerable loss. He relates, 
however, that these predatory bands sometimes em- 
brace whole tribes, and number from fifteen to twenty 
thousand fighting men. In such cases, they are irresis- 
tible ; they burst upon the territories of weaker tribes, 
slay, lay waste and capture as they proceed, and leave 
a desert behind them. 

¥e can only guess from Magyar's further notes 
that he remained upon his possessions in Bihe in 1854. 
But the next year he started again, crossed the Olow- 
ihenda wilderness, and reached the country of Lobal. 
How far his explorations extended cannot be ascer- 
tained. On his return he was again attacked by a 
large body of the natives, and only succeeded in repel 



MAGYAR'S JOURNEYS IN THE INTERIOR. 283 

ling them, after a hard fight which lasted several hours. 
The supply of powder was thereby so reduced that 
the caravan was obliged to return to Bihe by forced 
marches. 

In 1856 he undertook to revisit Benguela, since it 
was in this year that the Donna Isabel, whom he met 
during his inland journey in 1849, rescued him from 
death ; but in what manner we arearot informed. His 
death must have occurred about this time, or soon after- 
wards, and thus some of the most important geograph- 
ical questions, upon which he might have thrown a 
great deal of light, are left unsolved. What informa- 
tion he has given, however, bears the stamp of truth. 
His system of exploration was bold, intelligent and 
successful ; he, no less than Livingstone, has shown 
how much courage and an unflinching determination 
will accomplish. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Livingstone's expedition to lake nyassa. 

LIVINGSTONE'S narrative of his journey across 
the African continent, published in 1857, excited 
the greatest interest throughout the civilized world. 
The importance of his discoveries was everywhere rec- 
ognized, and his own determination to undertake a new 
journey of exploration met with a hearty support from 
the English Government and the Royal Geographical 
Society, as well as from private individuals. The 
object of this second expedition was to ascertain 
whether the Zambesi River was navigable to a point 
near the Makololo country, and to penetrate the 
regions north of that river, so as to connect Living- 
stone's discoveries with those of Burton and Speke, in 
Equatorial Africa. 

The Earl of Clarendon, then Minister of Foreign 
Affairs, united with the Geographical Society in pro- 
viding for the outfit of the expedition, and Dr. Living- 
stone was joined by his brother, the Rev. Charles Liv- 
ingstone, who had been living as a clergyman in Mas- 
sachusetts for some years, by Dr. Kirk, an accomplished 
botanist, and Mr. Thornton, who, however, left the 
party soon after their arrival in the Zambesi country, 
and joined Baron Van der Decker in his attempt to 
reach the mountain Kilimandjaro. The supplies were 



EXPEDITION TO LAKE NYASSA. 285 

procured with especial reference to the regions to be 
traversed, and everything was done which promised to 
insure success in advance. 

The expedition left England on the 10th of March, 
1858, in the steamer Pearl, and, proceeding by the 
way of the Cape of Good Hope, reached the mouth of 
the Zambesi River in May. The navigation of this 
river, both as a highway for conferee and means for 
the christianization of Africa, was Livingstone's first 
object, and if he w r as finally disappointed therein, the 
results of his undertaking are none the less important 
in a geographical point of view. He brought with 
him a smaller steamer, in sections, which were then 
put together and launched, under the name of the Ma- 
Robert (mother of Robert), — a name which was given 
by the Makololo to Mrs. Livingstone, when she accom- 
panied him on the first journey to Lake Ngami. 

On reaching Mazaro, where the delta of the Zam- 
besi begins and its arms branch off towards the sea, 
Livingstone found the Portuguese at war with a half- 
breed who had forcibly taken possession of the north- 
ern bank of the river as far as the Shire, and plundered 
at will. 

A battle, of which he was a spectator, took place 
at Mazaro, but it fortunately ended in the defeat of 
the native chief, and he was able to go forward with 
safety. The steamer, driven by the heat of burned 
ebony and lignum vitse, slowly ascended the river, 
passed Shupanga, which was to ,be the grave of Mrs. 
Livingstone three years later, and reached the mouth 
of the Shire. Here, however, no halt was made: Liv- 
ingstone pushed on with difficulty, on account of the 



286 TRA VELS IN SO UTH AFRICA. 

imperfect construction of the boat, which was scarcely 
able to stem the current, and on the 8th of September 
reached Tete, where he had left his faithful Makololos 
in 1856. They were still waiting for him, and their 
joy at his appearance was very great. Some fell upon 
his neck, while others exclaimed : "Do not touch him 
— you will soil his new clothes ! " and the native min- 
strels struck up a chant of rejoicing. 

As it was low water in the Zambesi, an examina- 
tion of the Kebrabasi Rapids in the river, some forty 
or fifty miles above Tete, was made for the purpose of 
ascertaining whether the steamer would be able to 
pass them during high water. The result was en- 
tirely unfavorable ; whereupon Dr. Livingstone wrote 
to England asking that a new and more powerful 
steamer should be sent, and meanwhile decided to un- 
dertake an exploration of the Shire, which river was 
wholly unknown to the Portuguese officials, who de- 
clared that they had been unable to navigate it on 
account of the density of the growth of water plants. 

Livingstone entered the river in January, 1859, 
and found that the steamer was able to force its way 
through the aquatic vegetation, which gradually be- 
came less dense, and finally ceased, leaving a clear, 
deep stream. At the villages on the banks the natives 
collected in great numbers, brandishing their spears 
and making signs of attack, but when he explained to 
them that he was not a Portuguese, that he did not 
deal in slaves, and that his object was peaceful, their 
demeanor changed at once, and the signs of hostility 
ceased. Erelong the expedition reached a great iso- 
lated mountain, called Moramballa, about 4,000 feet 



EXPEDITION TO LAKE NYASSA. 287 

in height, and wooded to its summit. High up on its 
side there was a native village, enjoying a pleasant 
and temperate climate. Beyond this point the river 
flows through great marshes, the waters of which are 
starred with the blossoms of the lily and lotus. 

The navigation of the river through these marshes 
was very slow and difficult. The frequent shallows 
occasioned great delay to the stoamer, and though the 
native villages appeared to be well supplied with 
goats and fowls, it was very difficult to procure pro- 
visions. After attaining a distance of a hundred miles 
id a straight line from the mouth of the river, all fur- 
ther progress with the steamer was suddenly cut off 
by a series of cataracts and rapids, 40 miles in extent, 
to the first and most important of which Livingstone 
gave the name of Murchison Falls. The difference 
of level between the lower valley of the Shire and 
the upper, beyond these rapids, is 1,200 feet. After 
establishing friendly relations with the chiefs in the 
neighborhood, Livingstone went back to Tete for fur- 
ther supplies, returned in March, and making the vil- 
lage of the native chief Shibisa his starting-point, set 
out on foot with Dr. Kirk and the Makololos for a 
new lake which was said to lie to the eastward. The 
natives of the country through which they passed 
made hostile demonstrations, and the greatest courage 
and prudence w^as necessary to avoid conflict with 
them. 

Finally, on the 18th of April, 1859, Livingstone 
reached Lake Shirwa. The water was slightly brack- 
ish, and the shores bordered with reeds and papyrus 
plants. The lake has no outlet, although several small 



288 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

rivers empty into it. The eastern shore is hilly, while 
the western rises into a range of mountains, 7,000 feet 
in height, dividing the lake from the valley of the 
Shire. The breadth of this sheet of water was esti- 
mated at 20 miles ; the length towards the north could 
not be exactly ascertained, but the explorers were as- 
sured that it was divided by a narrow strip of territory 
from another lake of much larger dimensions. Its ele- 
vation above the sea was about 1,200 feet. After re- 
maining two days on the shore, Livingstone and Kirk 
postponed further explorations, returned to the steamer 
and descended to the mouth of the Zambesi for fresh 
supplies. 

In August they again ascended the Shire, when 
they found the natives busily engaged in collecting the 
roots of the lotus, which they store away as an article 
of food. "When roasted, the flavor is much like that 
of a chestnut. The progress up the river was slow, on 
account of the leaky condition of the Ma-Robert^ while 
the travellers suffered terribly from the clouds of mos- 
quitos which hung over the marshes. On reaching 
Shibisa's village they left the steamer and set out north- 
wards, on foot, with thirty-six Makololos and two guides, 
towards the great lake Nyassa, which, although known 
through the reports of the Arab and Portuguese tra- 
ders, had not yet been seen by any European. 

They soon reached a table-land, 3,000 feet above 
the sea, with a better climate and purer atmosphere. 
The scenery was inspiring, for basaltic peaks, from one 
to five thousand feet in height, rose above the general 
level, and the distance was filled with lofty mountain- 
ranges. The tribe which inhabits this region is called 



EXPEDITION TO LAKE NYASSA. 289 

the Mangandia. They appear to be related to the 
Kaffers, and are physically somewhat superior to the 
natives along the Zambesi. The women deform them- 
selves hideously by covering their bodies with scars, 
and piercing their upper lips for the insertion of rings 
of wood or ivory, which are gradually increased in size 
until they reach two inches in diameter. This orna- 
ment, which is called the pelele^ makes their natural 
ugliness almost frightful. 

Following the upper valley of the Shire, the ex- 
pedition soon reached the Pamalombe Lake, into which 
the river expands. It is ten miles in length by live 
in breadth, and swarms with fish. A native chief 
living near the lake assured them that there was no 
great body of water within two months' journey ; yet 
they were then only, as it afterwards proved, one day's 
march from Lake Nyassa. On the 16th of Sep- 
tember, in fact — in less than three weeks from the 
time they left the steamer — they reached the shore of 
the lake, at the point where the Shire issues from it, 
in lat. 14° 25 ' S. The German traveller, Dr. Albert 
Eoscher, who penetrated inland from Quiloa, and 
made his way to Lake Nyassa from the east, reached 
it on the 19th of October of the same year — only 33 
days after Livingstone, but at the opposite extremity. 
Eoscher was murdered soon afterwards, and his ac- 
count of his journey is lost to the world. 

The party remained but a short time at the south- 
ern end of Lake Nyassa, which they did not attempt 
to explore further. After a journey of forty days on 
foot, during which they suffered many privations and 
were accidentally poisoned by eating some cassava 
19 



290 TRA VELS IN SO UTH AFRICA. 

roots which were not properly prepared, they reached 
the steamer. Dr. Kirk and the engineer were sent in 
a direct course across the country to Tete, while Liv- 
ingstone and his brother followed the river, arriving 
at the latter place on the 2d of February, 1860. His 
next plan was to retrace his old route in 1855 and '56, 
and return to the Makololo country in the upper 
Zambesi valley, but this obliged him to wait until the 
month of May before starting. One object of his 
journey was to take back the faithful Makololos who 
had accompanied him to Tete ; the other to ascertain 
the condition of the missionary stations which, accord- 
ing to his advice, had been established in the upper 
Zambesi valley. He succeeded entirely, in the former 
particular; but the latter was far from meeting the 
sanguine expectations in which he had indulged. 

Leaving Tete towards the end of May, 1860, Dr 
Livingstone, accompanied by his brother and Dr. Kirk, 
followed nearly the same route he had travelled more 
than four years before. His narrative contains some 
interesting particulars of the habits of the native 
tribes, but lacks the interest of his first journey. In 
September the party reached the great cataract of the 
Zambesi, and then w r ent on to the town of Sesheke, 
where they found the chief Sekeletu still alive, but 
suffering from a leprous disease. At Linyanti, Living- 
stone's wagon still stood, w T ith his scientific instru- 
ments and some goods, as he had left it seven years 
before ! The English missionaries, who with their 
wives and children had reached the same spot only 
eight months before, were dead or departed. All 
that remained was seven graves : Mr. Helmore, his 



EXPEDITION TO LAKE NYASSA. 291 

wife, Mrs. Price and their children had died of the 
fatal African fever, within reach of the supply of med- 
icine which Livingstone had left in his wagon. The 
accounts of this unfortunate enterprise are conflicting. 
It seems that the missionary expedition had endured 
great suffering during the journey, and was poorly 
supplied ; on the other hand, they were badly treated 
by the Makololos, and the chiefjSekeletu prevented 
them from removing to a healthier part of the country. 

On the return journey to Tete, the attempt was 
made to pass the Kebrabasa Rapids in canoes, the water 
being very low. It was an unfortunate failure, occasion- 
ing the loss of the instruments and Dr. Kirk's botani- 
cal collections. . After reaching the steamer they em- 
barked for the mouth of the Zambesi, but on the 21st 
of December the leaky craft grounded on a sand-bank, 
and began to go to pieces. This was the end of the 
Ma-Robert. 

In the meantime, notice of the discovery of Lakes 
Shirwa and Nyassa had reached England, and a mission- 
ary expedition, called the " Universities' Mission," was 
fitted out under the auspices of the Universities of Ox~ 
ford and Cambridge. At its head was Bishop Macken- 
zie, formerly Archdeacon of Natal ; he was assisted by 
the Rev. Messrs. Proctor, Scudamore, Burrup and 
Rowley, together with a physician, and some artists 
and scientific men. The object of the mission was to 
establish stations in Central Africa, from which Chris- 
tianity could be gradually taught to the native tribes, 
together with agriculture and such other arts as might 
assist in breaking up the slave-trade. The members 
left in England in October, 1860, and reached the 



292 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 

mouth of the Zambesi the following February, shortly 
after the arrival of the Pioneer ', the new steamer which 
Livingstone had requested to have forwarded to him. 

Although each expedition was independent of the 
other, it was advisable that the two should act in con- 
cert. The Bishop and his followers were desirous of 
reaching the cooler table-lands of the Shire, and there 
commencing their work, as soon as possible, while Liv- 
ingstone strongly advised them to ascend the Rovuma 
River, which empties into the Indian Ocean between 
the parallels of 10° and 11° S., north of the Portuguese 
territory, and thence make the journey by land. This 
proposition was finally adopted, the Pioneer was given 
to the Universities 1 Mission, and entered the mouth of 
the Rovuma on the 11th of March. But the river was 
rapidly falling, and after an attempt of ten days, dur- 
ing which little progress was made, the boat turned 
back. In the meantime so much sickness had broken 
out on board, that the expedition sailed to the Comoro 
Islands to recruit. 

Returning to the Zambesi, the Pioneer was found 
to be a good boat for the purpose, except that she drew 
too much water. Nevertheless, by the beginning of 
July, 1861, Livingstone and his party, with the Uni- 
versities' Mission, reached the village of Shibisa, at the 
foot of the Murchison Cataracts, on the Shire. Here 
very unfavorable news awaited them. A tribe called 
the Ajawa had overrun the table-land inhabited by the 
Manganja, destroyed their villages, and carried off 
many of the people as slaves. Nevertheless the com- 
bined expedition set out, and marched for a few days 
without encountering any hostility. They then came 



EXPEDITION TO LAKE NYASSA. 293 

upon a caravan of slaves, whom they liberated, follow- 
ing their instincts rather than calculating the possible 
consequences. Others were afterwards liberated, to the 
number of 148 in all, and the missionaries determined 
to keep them together and instruct them, as the begin- 
ning of their work. 

Bishop Mackenzie accepted the invitation of one of 
Manganja chiefs, to establish his mission near the vil- 
lage of the latter, Magomero, a beautiful and apparently 
healthy place, not far from Lake Shirwa. Before this 
was done, the two parties were attacked by a band of 
the Ajawas, but drove off the enemy. There seems to 
have been some difference of opinion between Dr. Liv- 
ingstone and Bishop Mackenzie as to the proper policy 
to be pursued, and the parties divided, the former 
returning to the steamer to make preparations for an 
exploration of Lake Nyassa, while the latter settled 
themselves at Magomero. 

The Pioneer had brought out a four-oared boat in 
sections, which were carried around the cataracts and 
rapids of the Shire by the natives, after which it was 
put together by two or three English sailors, one of 
whom accompanied the two Livingstones and Dr. 
Kirk. They found the upper Shire a broad and deep 
stream, with no impediments to navigation. The evi- 
dence of malaria in the air obliged them to hasten on, 
and reach the fresher and cooler atmosphere of the 
great lake. The southern end of Nyassa, out of which 
the Shire flows, is about thirty miles long, by from ten 
to twelve in breadth. Beyond a high headland, to 
which Livingstone gave the name of Maclear, another 
arm stretches in a south-western direction for a distance 



294 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

of fifteen or twenty miles. The main body of the lake, 
at the junction of these two arms, has a breadth of 
about twenty miles, but gradually expands to the 
northwards until it reaches a breadth of fifty or sixty, 
so that from one side the opposite shore cannot be 
seen. The whole length of the lake is not less than 
200 miles. It appears to be surrounded by mountains, 
but they are evidently only the fronts of lofty table- 
lands, like those described by Magyar in travelling 
inland from Benguela. The surface of the lake is 
1,300 feet above the sea. 

It was a stormy time of the year when they entered 
the lake, for which reason they were unable to cross 
it, while the air was so thick with cloud and haze 
that they had very rare views of the distant shores. 
Violent squalls burst upon them with hardly a mo- 
ment's warning, and more than once their escape from 
shipwreck seemed almost miraculous. Livingstone 
asserts that he never beheld such waves as on Lake 
Nyassa. Fortunately the sailor who accompanied him 
was accustomed to similar storms on the coast of Ire- 
land, and his skill in the management of the boat was 
of priceless service. The western shore, which they 
skirted, was densely populated. The people crowded 
the strand, by thousands, to witness the singular spec- 
tacle of a sail-boat, and gaze at the strange white men 
when they landed. In general they were friendly, and 
only once was any tribute demanded for passing their 
territory. 

The Makololo and other native attendants on shore, 
who carried the supplies of the expedition, could only 
march very slowly, and as it had been arranged that 



EXPEDITION TO LAKE NYASSA. 295 

they and the boat should meet every evening, the pro- 
gress of the latter was greatly delayed. Besides, as 
they approached the northern end of the lake they 
found a state of war, and the safety of the land party 
became so uncertain that Livingstone turned about be- 
fore quite reaching the extremity. His brother and 
Dr. Kirk reached the parallel of 11°, where they saw 
the mountains of the opposite shwe closing in, and 
conjectured that the end of the lake was under Lat. 
10°, but it may possibly extend a considerable distance 
further. After an exploration of nearly two months on 
and near the lake (on its western side, only,) the party 
returned to the steamer in November, 1861. 

Soon after their arrival, Bishop Mackenzie made his 
appearance, with some English' sailors who had gone 
to Magomero for their health. The Mission appeared 
to be flourishing: the hostile Ajawas had left the 
country, the native Manganjas were friendly, and there 
was every prospect that the missionaries would be able 
to support themselves, in the lack of supplies from 
England. It only remained to open a convenient road 
from their station to the head of navigation on the 
Shire, and this the Bishop undertook to do at once, in 
order to meet his sister and Mr. Burrup's wife, the fol- 
lowing January. 

The brief history of the Universities' Mission, as it 
is related by the only survivor, Mr. Rowley, is both 
interesting and instructive. In their zeal for imme- 
diately suppressing the slave trade, the missionaries 
allowed themselves to be persuaded by the Mangan- 
jas to join in a war against the Ajawas, whom they 
after found to be quite a peaceable people. But much 



296 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

valuable time had been lost before this discovery was 
made : the situation of Magomero proved to be un- 
healthy, and before good buildings could be completed 
the rainy season came on, with fever in its train. An 
attempt made by two of the members to reach the 
Zambesi failed, and the Bishop, having received word 
from Livingstone that he would come for him in his 
steamer on the 1st of January, 1862, left Magomero 
with one companion. He did not arrive until the 
10th, when the steamer had left : and, worn out with 
fever and privations, died in two weeks afterwards. 

Mr. Bumip followed him to the grave in less than 
a month. Messrs. Scudamore and Rowley then re- 
moved the Mission to the banks of the Shire, where 
the former, with Dr. Dickinson, the physician, soon 
afterwards died, and the few remaining members of 
the Mission left the country. Another victim to the 
terrible climate was Mrs. Livingstone, who, after join- 
ing her husband in January, died at Shupanga, on the 
lower Zambesi, on the 27th of April, and was buried 
there, under a majestic baobab-tree. 

The third vessel sent to Livingstone, the Lady 
Nyassa, was put together and successfully launched 
at Shupanga, by the end of June. By this time the 
Shire River was so low that the new steamer could not 
ascend it, and the climate of the lower Zambesi was so 
unhealthy that it was not prudent to remain longer. 
Livingstone, therefore, determined to attempt the nav- 
igation of the Rovuma, wherein the Universities' 
Mission had failed, more than a year before. After 
visiting the island of Johanna, he entered the mouth 
of the river early in September, and commenced the 



EXPEDITION TO LAKE NYASSA. 297 

ascent. Although the shores were bold and hilly, his 
progress was delayed by sand-bars and snags, and the 
stream, only thirty or forty miles from the coast, be- 
came so shallow that he was obliged to leave the 
steamer and push forward in smaller boats. 

The natives along the Rovuma belong to a tribe 
called the Makonda, a shy, timid race, who feared the 
strangers too much to molest tliQn> It was with diffi- 
culty that provisions could be procured from them. 
Further up the river, one band of these people ven- 
tured to shoot their poisoned arrows at the explorers, 
but a discharge of musketry immediately scattered 
them. Finally, on the 26th of September, having 
reached a point 156 miles from the sea, Livingstone 
found the stream so narrow, shallow and rapid, that it 
was impossible for him to advance further. The 
natives informed him that he was about 30 miles from 
a large village called Ngomans, whence it was a land 
journey of twelve days to Lake Nyassa. 

The party returned down the river, re-embarked 
on the steamer, and after touching at the Portuguese 
town Quillimane, arrived at Shupanga, on the Zambesi, 
in December. His object, now was to transport the 
Lady Nyassa above the cataracts of the Shire, and 
undertake the complete exploration of the Nyassa lake. 
On entering the Shire River, he found everywhere the 
marks of death and desolation. The same half-breed, 
whose battle with the Portuguese he had witnessed at 
Mazaro, on his arrival in 1858, had overrun the country, 
slain, burned and plundered, until the once populous 
land h#d become a waste. In March, 1863, while the 
steamer was stayed on a sand-bank Livingstone was 



298 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

joined by Mr. Thornton, who had left him five years 
before, to undertake the journey to Kilimandjaro with 
Baron Van der Deeken. He again offered his services, 
as geologist, but having undertaken to convey provi- 
sions to the few remaining missionaries in the Shire 
country, he succumbed to the hardships of the journey, 
and died in April. 

Many of the native attendants had also died, and 
Dr. Kirk and Charles Livingstone were also so reduced 
by fever that on the 19th of May they left the chief of 
the expedition, and returned to England. In the 
meantime, news of the failure of the Universities' Mis- 
sion had reached England; the part which Bishop 
Mackenzie had taken in the native wars gave offence 
to the Government, and on the 2d of July Livingstone 
received an order to return. Before obeying, however, 
he determined to make one final effort to explore Lake 
Nyassa and the country surrounding it. 

He set out, with a much smaller party than before, 
and took a course northwards, on the west side of the 
Shire, and at some distance from the stream. This led 
to the discovery of a range of bare granite peaks, rising 
to a height of 5,000 feet above the sea, running parallel 
with the river. Following this range he came into the 
valley of Gova, which gently descends towards the 
south-western arm of Lake Nyassa. The country was 
well cultivated, and no serious difficulties were encoun- 
tered from the inhabitants. Their greatest fear seemed 
to be concerning the " Mazitu," or Arab slave-traders, 
who, they related, built broad, flat boats in a bay 
toward the northern end of the lake, for the purpose 
of transporting their captives to the opposite side. 



EXPEDITION TO LAKE NYASSA. 299 

Livingstone followed the western shore as far as 
this bay, which he reached about the middle of Sep- 
tember. He then turned inland, striking westward 
in the hope of being able to travel entirely around 
the lake, at a short distance from it. Ascending a 
mountain called Ndonda, which was 3,440 feet high, 
he came upon a broad scantily-watered table-land, 
where the air was so sharp and cool, that although to 
himself it gave new life, his native attendants fell sick, 
and one of them died. For three or four davs more 
he pushed onward, and only turned about when com- 
pelled by the sufferings of his men and the want of 
nourishing food. He was upon the high-road from 
Lake Nyassa to Cazembe, the capital of tho Londa 
country — the " Moluwa" of Magyar. 

He returned by a more southerly route, striking 
the lake at a point about 30 miles south of that where 
he had left. He reached the steamer in November, 
after a journey of nearly 700 miles, and after resting 
from his hardships, and waiting for the rains, left the 
Shire towards the end of January, 1864. In a month 
he reached the mouth of the Zambesi, where his little 
steamer was taken in tow by an English man-of-war, 
and carried to Zanzibar. From the latter port he re- 
turned to England by way of Bombay. 

This expedition occupied nearly six years of time, 
and — in connection with the Universities' Mission — 
cost some valuable lives. The English Government 
seems to have been disappointed, in its results, which, 
nevertheless, are of sufficient importance, when we 
consider what was accomplished for geographical 
and natural science. The suppression of the slave- 



300 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

trade, the Christianization of the native tribes, and 
the substitution of English for Portuguese and Arab 
commercial interests require a much longer period of 
time. Had Dr. Livingstone's task been limited to 
exploration, he would undoubtedly have done much 
more ; and his subsequent history is the proof that, 
in this respect, he was far from being satisfied. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Livingstone's last journey. 

IN the preface to his last work, "Narrative of an 
Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries," 
written in April, 1865, Livingstone announces his in- 
tention of starting upon a new journey of exploration. 

He says : " I propose to go inland, north of the ter- 
ritory which the Portuguese in Europe claim, and en- 
deavor to commence that system on the east which has 
been so successful on the west coast. ... I hope to 
ascend the Eovuma, or some other river north of Cape 
Delgado, and, in addition to my* other work, shall 
strive, by passing along the northern end of Lake Ny- 
assa, and round the southern end of Lake Tagnanyika, 
to ascertain the water-shed of that part of Africa. In 
so doing, I have no wish to unsettle what with so much 
toil and danger was accomplished by Speke and Grant, 
but rather to confirm their illustrious discoveries." 

In order to carry out this new design, Livingstone 
was obliged to depend upon narrower means and ar- 
range his plans in a simpler manner. The Royal Geo- 
graphical Society contributed £500, the English Gov- 
ernment an equal amount, and a friend whose name is 
not mentioned, £1,000. Livingstone was appointed 
Consul for Central Africa^ with power to make treaties 
with the native tribes, and an annual salary of £500. 
Thus the means for a small yet sufficiently appointed 



302 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

expedition were procured. The importance of the 
geographical questions to be solved fully justified Liv- 
ingstone in the undertaking, and the hopes and good 
wishes of the principal scientific men of Europe and 
America accompanied him when he left England, to- 
wards the close of the year 1865. 

He first went to Bombay, and sailed thence for Zan- 
zibar on the 2nd of January, 1866. On his arrival at 
the latter port he procured boats for the navigation of 
the Rovuma River, and several camels for the land jour- 
ney thence to Lake Nyassa. His attendants were 
chiefly natives of Johanna, one of the Comoro Islands, 
and Mahometans. On reaching the mouth of the Rovu- 
ma, it was found that the paths through the mangrove 
swamps were impracticable for camels, whereupon the 
boats were compelled to go some distance up the river. 
About 25 miles from the sea a good landing-place was 
found : the expedition was here organized, and pro- 
ceeded up the southern bank of the river to the mouth 
of a large affluent called the Loendi, 30 miles further 
than the point reached by Livingstone in 1862. 

There at the village of Ngomano, he was so well re- 
ceived by the chief, that he determined to remain until 
the best route to Lake Nyassa should be ascertained. 
The Rovuma valley is here bordered by ranges of hills 
from four to six hundred feet in height, and covered 
with dense thickets. The Makonda people were in- 
dustrious, and helpful in opening a way for the party. 

In June or July, Livingstone started with his Jo- 
hanna servants, and reached the eastern shore of Lake 
Nyassa, probably near its northern extremity. It 
seems, however, that he was unable to find a boat to 



LIVINGSTONE 'S LAST JO URNE Y. 303 

transport his party across to the western shore, and 
was compelled to make a long journey around the 
southern end of the lake, and up the western side, 
over the same ground which he had traversed in 1861 
and '63. 

The next information received of his fortunes 
reached Zanzibar in March, 1867, and came from some 
of the Johanna men, who, with their leader, Moussa, 
returned to the coast, and related a story which for a 
time was believed. They stated that Livingstone had 
crossed the lake, reached a place called Kampunda, 
and pushed on in to a region infested by the hostile 
Mazitus. Here, while they were in the rear, resting 
with the baggage, the traveller and his servants were 
suddenly attacked by an ambushed party. Living- 
stone fired and killed three of the enemy; but some 
of the others, under cover of the powder-smoke, ap- 
proached him from behind, and killed him with the 
blow of an axe on his head. The Johanna men hid 
themselves in the bushes, and were not seen. The 
next day they returned to the spot, found the bodies 
of Livingstone and four of his attendants, which they 
buried, and then made their way back to Kampunda, 
where they arrived in fourteen days. Here they 
waited until a caravan offered them the opportunity 
of reaching the coast. When this news was brought 
to Zanzibar, all the flags were lowered, and there was 
a universal sorrow for the supposed loss of the intrepid 
explorer. 

Some few, however, — and chief among them Sir 
Roderick Murchison, President of the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society, — refused to believe the story. At 



304 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

his instigation, it was determined to send out an ex- 
pedition to ascertain, at least, whether there was any 
foundation for it. Mr. Young, who had commanded 
Livingstone's steamer, the Pioneer, was appointed ; a 
small iron boat, in sections, was built and sent to the 
Cape of Good Hope, and by the 27th of July, 1867, 
the expedition had reached the mouth of the Zambesi. 
On arriving at the village of Shibisa, where Young 
was recognized and cordially welcomed, he found a 
very different state of things. The Manganja and 
Ajawa tribes had become friendly, and both were uni- 
ted in a common cause against the slave-robbing Maz- 
itus, who were coming down upon them from the 
north. Some of Livingstone's Makololos were also 
at the place, and a few of them at once offered their 
services as boatmen and guides. 

On the 19th of August Young reached the Murch- 
ison Cataracts, where his boat must be taken to pieces, 
and every piece, together with all the supplies of the 
expedition, transported a distance of 60 miles, to the 
upper valley of the Shire. On account of the ravages 
of war, he experienced the greatest difficulty, not only 
in procuring the 180 porters who were required for 
this labor, but also in feeding them during the time. 
When at last, with great difficulty, 150 men were gath- 
ered together, the bargaining in regard to pay, which 
must be separately repeated with each, seemed as if it 
would never come to an end. Young was obliged to ex- 
ercise the greatest skill and patience, in order to accom- 
plish his purpose without losing much valuable time. 

He left two Kroomen at the falls, with orders to 
remain there until the 15th of November, when, if 



LIVINGSTONE 'S LAST JO URNE Y. 305 

they should hear no news of him, they were to descend 
the Zambesi and communicate with the English frigate 
which was expected off the mouth of that river, about 
the 1st of December. In case his own return should 
be interrupted by the Mazitus, he designed to make 
his way directly from the lake to the Eastern coast. 

The transport of the boat, in spite of all difficulties, 
was successfully accomplished, and while the sections 
were being put together, some natives brought word 
that, some time before, a white man had passed the 
Pamalombe lake, and gone on in a westerly direction. 
This intelligence was puzzling to Young, who, suppos- 
ing that Livingstone had gone around the northern 
end of Lake Nyassa, did not suspect that he was actu- 
ally receiving news of the lost traveller. 

On the 31st of August he started in the boat, but 
was much annoyed by the Makololos, who were not 
only bad oarsmen, but became so excited by the ru- 
mors of the fierce Mazitus, that they were anxious to 
return. Young, however, pushed on with them, and, 
on approaching the Pamalombe lake, again heard of 
the recent visit of the white man, with the additional 
information that he was not an Arab, but an English- 
man. Now, for the first time, he began to suspect 
that this might be Livingstone. With full sails the 
boat sped through the smaller lake, traversed the brief 
additional reach of the Shire River, and on the 6th of 
September entered Lake Nyassa. After resting for a 
night on an island, where they were safe from the 
curiosity or hostility of the natives, Young sailed 
across to the eastern shore, which had not been 
visited before, during the previous expeditions. 
20 



306 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

By a wonderful chance, lie received news of Living- 
stone at the very first village where he landed. A 
single native stood on the shore, and showed the 
greatest astonishment and terror at the approach of 
the strange boat: but when Young addressed him, 
and explained that he was an Englishman, all his 
fear vanished and he answered : " The English are 
good people." When asked why he said so, he de- 
clared that an Englishman had passed through the 
villages along the lake, and had given many presents 
to the people. Young then questioned him more 
closely, and soon became convinced that he was indeid 
on the track of Livingstone. 

The man stated that he lived at an Arab settle- 
ment, in the neighborhood. Young immediately 
went to the place, and announced himself as an 
Englishman, whereupon the people clapped their 
hands and cried : " That is good ! " The chief 
asked him whether he knew the Englishman who 
had passed by there during the previous cold season. 
Then followed a long examination: the people an- 
swered Young's questions without hesitation, not only 
minutely describing Livingstone's personal appearance, 
and his method of taking astronomical observations, 
but mentioning the names of two boys, Chuma and 
"Wako, whom he had taken along for servants. They 
also stated that the chief of his porters was a stout 
man called Moussa. They informed Young that the 
Englishman wanted to cross Lake Nyassa, but, not 
being able to find a boat, had gone southward to a 
village near the Pamalombe lake. 

The details of Livingstone's journey increased 



LIVINGSTONE y S LAST JO URNE Y. 307 

rapidly, and the evidences of his having passed around 
the lake became more certain. The natives picked 
out his photograph from a collection of fifty, they 
brought small articles which he had given away, and 
marked out several of his days' journeys, showing the 
places where he had rested or slept. A company of 
Makololos, sent out to follow his route towards the 
Eovuma, found no difficulty in dpiiig so, until they 
were prevented from going further by reports of war 
between the tribes. By this time a large number of 
natives were collected, and, as many of them were 
armed with fire-arms, Young judged it prudent to 
sleep on board his boat, and to keep her at a safe dis- 
tance from the shore. 

Having learned all that could be ascertained on 
the eastern side, he crossed to a place called Chin- 
samba, on the western side, about fifty miles from the 
southern end of the lake. Here he heard the same 
story : a white man had been in the village of 
Marenga, and had gone on, in a westerly direction. 
He also found porters, who had assisted in carrying 
the white man's baggage, but no one had heard of a 
murder, or even of an attack. Yet he was now very 
near the point, where, according to the accounts of the 
Johanna men, Livingstone had been slain. The people 
stated, moreover, that he only had seven attendants 
with him : so the treacherous bearers of the evil 
tidings must have already deserted him. 

Young's next movement was to the village of 
Marenga, where he was heartily' welcomed by the 
chief, who immediately asked after Livingstone. He 
voluntarily related that the latter had visited him, had 



$08 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

been carried in his boat further up the lake, while the 
Johanna porters went on by land. Two days after- 
wards he was surprised by the return of the latter, who 
declared that they were going home. Livingstone, 
however, had quietly continued his journey inland 
towards the north-west, and the chief produced several 
porters who had accompanied him a part of the way. 
All doubt was now dispelled ; both Livingstone's 
safety and his success up to this point were estab- 
lished, and there seemed better grounds than ever for 
hoping that he would finally carry out his great under- 
taking. 

After several days of festivity in Marenga's village, 
Young started on his return on the 20th of September. 
He doubled Cape Maclear, which divides the two 
southern arms of the lake, rising 2,000 feet above the 
water, and then sailed to Mapunda, where the Shires 
issues from Lake Nyassa. Here he learned that Liv- 
ingstone's boy, Wako, had been left, on account of an 
injury to his leg, which afterwards healed. The boy 
was then absent, but the natives showed Young a book 
in which he had written his name. Young left a let- 
ter for him, and then commenced the descent of the 
Shire. 

On reaching the commencement of the rapids, 
where it was necessary to take the boat to pieces, there 
were no natives to be seen. The party were suffering 
from hunger, and in the desolated and depopulated 
region around, no supplies were to be had. A dead 
hippopotamus which came floating down the stream 
was seized and eagerly devoured by the natives. How- 
fever, when the arrival of the party became known, 150 



LIVINGSTONE 'S LAST JO URNE Y. 309 

men soon appeared, eager to be employed in carrying 
the pieces of the boat to the lower river. With a heat 
of 110° in the shade, when the iron sections scorched 
the hand which touched them, these men made the 
transport of sixty miles in four days and a half. They 
were to be paid from the supplies of cotton goods 
which had been left below the rapids, but the men 
who had these in charge had neglected to protect them 
from the water, and they were nearly all rotten. 
Young, nevertheless, succeeded in satisfying the 
natives : he then reconstructed the boat, descended the 
Shire and the Zambesi, and on the 1st of December 
was picked up by an English frigate. In four months' 
time he had made the journey from the ocean to Lake 
Nyassa and back, and ascertained the truth concerning 
Livingstone, at a small expense, and without losing a 
man. 

Not long afterwards, some Arab merchants brought 
news to Zanzibar, from which it appeared that Living- 
stone had penetrated the unknown regions west of Lake 
Nyassa. It was reported that he had crossed the 
Loangwe River, a large northern affluent of the Zambe- 
si, which drains the western slope of the great table- 
land of Maravi (lying west of Lake Nyassa), and had 
entered the land of the Babisa. The whole country 
had been devastated by the slave-hunters, the villages 
were destroyed, even game had become scarce, and the 
brave explorer had suffered much from hunger. 

After some months, some brief and fragmentary 
despatches from Livingstone himself reached Zanzibar. 
He had arrived in a country called Bamba, or Lobam- 
ba, lying nearly midway between the Nyassa and Tan- 



310 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

ganyika Lakes, in February, 1867. Here the chief re- 
ceived him kindly, and he remained for some time to 
rest and recruit his strength. In October of the same 
year he reached the Marunga country, near the south- 
ern end of Tanganyika. His progress was greatly de- 
layed by the exhaustion of his stock of goods and med- 
icines, and though many efforts were made to supply 
him from Zanzibar, the intermediate region is always 
so unsettled, from the continual wars between the 
tribes, that there was no certainty that any supplies 
had reached him. 

Early in 1869 new letters for Dr. Kirk and Sir 
Roderick Murchison reached the coast, and gave most 
welcome if scanty news of Livingstone's explorations. 
He was on the western side of Lake Tanganyika, 
anxiously waiting for supplies, and still determined to 
carry out his original plan of pushing onward to 
the Luta N'zige (Albert Nyanza), discovered by Baker. 
He had suffered a great deal from hunger, exposure 
and fever, but had lost none of his courage and reso- 
lution. 

Since then we have received frequent reports of his 
situation through the native traders who now and then 
visit Zanzibar, but nothing direct from himself. The 
greater part of the intervening period between 1868 
and 1871 seems to have been spent by him in the re- 
gions west of Lake Tanganyika. The natives report 
that he made one journey of three hundred miles in 
that direction, but they say nothing of journeys to the 
northward. It was known, in 1870, that supplies for 
him had safely reached Ujiji, on the eastern shore of 
the lake, and nearly opposite his temporary home. 



LIVINGSTONE 'S LAST JO URNE Y. 3H 

His long experience of the native African tribes, and 
his wonderful success in dealing with them, diminish 
in his case the risks to which every traveller must be 
exposed, and those who know him best have been most 
sanguine of his final return to the world, with a richer 
store of knowledge than any traveller has yet brought 
from the heart of Africa. 

In 1871 Mr. Stanley set outworn Zanzibar, with 
the intention of reaching Livingstone, and towards the 
close of the year the sum of £5,000 was raised in Eng- 
land to fit out an expedition, which, at the time these 
lines are written (March 1st, 1872), is on its way to 
Africa. The latest news received at Zanzibar, which 
has an air of authenticity, and seems to be accepted 
as reliable by Livingstone's friends, represents him as 
being midway between Ujiji and Unyanyembe, — 
therefore about 150 miles east of lake Tanganyika — 
on his way to the coast. If this be true, and no mis- 
fortune comes to mar the close of the most daring 
and important journey in the annals of exploration, 
he may be expected to reach England during the sum- 
mer of 1872. 



POSTSCRIPT. 



OIX months have passed since the closing para- 
graphs of the last chapter were written. The 
belief there expressed that Livingston was still alive 
has been happily justified, though the hope that he 
would soon return to tell the story of his adventures 
has not been fulfilled. His self-imposed task is not 
yet accomplished : a space of perhaps two hundred 
miles remains to be explored before the long hidden 
secret of the Nile is revealed, and he will not return 
until he has made it his own. The story of his dis- 
covery and relief by Mr. Stanley, forms one of the 
most romantic episodes of African adventure, not less 
from the peculiar character of the expedition, and the 
boldness of its conception, than the personal heroism, 
pluck, and persistence manifested in its execution, and 
the rare good fortune with which it was rewarded. 

The report that Livingston was pushing eastward 
from Ujiji toward Unyanyembe, proved to be with- 
out foundation. Mr. Stanley left the latter place late 
in September, 1871, and early in the following No- 
vember, — spite of wars and rumors of wars, treacher- 
ous servants, blackmailing chiefs, mountain fever, and 
all the other obstacles to African travel, — he arrived 
at Ujiji, whither Livingston had just come from a 
tramp of more than four hundred miles beneath a 



POSTSCRIPT. 313 

vertical tropical sun, " a mere ruckle of bones," to use 
his own words, " dying on his feet," " baffled, worried, 
and defeated," haying been turned back from his ex- 
ploration of the Manyema country, by the refusal of 
his cowardly and mutinous servant to go on. The 
arrival of Mr. Stanley was most opportune. The 
supplies that had been sent by the English Govern- 
ment to Ujiji, on which Livingston depended for the 
prosecution of his researches, had been stolen by the 
agent to whom they had been intrusted ; and the 
sorely disappointed, almost disheartened explorer, 
found himself at Ujiji, sixteen days before Mr. Stan- 
ley came, travel- worn, ill, and dejected, and reduced 
almost to beggary. His letters to the coast had been 
so often destroyed by the Arabs, who dreaded any 
exposure of their horrid practices in obtaining slaves, 
that he had relinquished all hope of ever obtaining 
help from Zanzibar, and had determined, when he 
became stronger, " to work his way down to Mteza or 
Baker for help and men." 

But assistance came when least expected. A vague 
rumor had reached Ujiji, shortly before his arrival 
there, that an Englishman had come to Unyanyembe 
with boats, horses, men, and goods in abundance. " It 
was in vain," Dr. Livingston writes, "to conjecture 
who this could be ; and my eager inquiries were met 
by answers so contradictory that I began to doubt if 
any stranger had come at all. But one day, I cannot 
say which, for I was three weeks too fast in my reck- 
oning, my man Susi came dashing up in great excite- 
ment, and gasped out, " An Englishman coming ; see 
him ! " and off he ran to meet him. The American 



314 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

flag at the head of the caravan told me the nationality 
of the stranger. It was Henry M. Stanley, the trav- 
elling correspondent of the New York Herald, sent by 
the son of the editor, James Gordon Bennett, Jr., at 
an expense of X4,000, to obtain correct information 
about me if living, and if dead to bring home my 
bones. The kindness was extreme, and made my 
whole frame thrill with excitement and gratitude." 

This sudden change of fortune had the happiest 
effect on the forlorn explorer. The possession of sup- 
plies, the strange news that the deliverer had to tell 
of the events of the past six years, and more than all 
the assurance that he was neither abandoned nor for- 
gotten by his friends at home, brought new life and 
strength and hope to him. " It was, indeed, over- 
whelming " he wrote to the proprietor of the Herald, 
" and I said in my soul, ' Let the richest blessings 
descend from the Highest on you and yours.' : 

As stated (page 302), Dr. Livingston left the coast 
early in 1866, with an expedition consisting of twelve 
Sepoys, nine Johanna men, seven liberated slaves, and 
two Zambezi men, with six camels, three buffaloes, 
two mules, and three donkeys. The Sepoys armed 
with Enfield rifles were to serve as guards. The ex- 
pedition pursued a difficult route up the left bank of 
the Rovuma River, through jungles impenetrable to 
the camels. The way had to be hewn out with axes, 
and progress was constantly retarded by the unwil- 
lingness of the Sepoys and the Johanna men to work. 
The Sepoys were rebellious from the outset, and soon 
proved themselves utterly worthless as an escort. To 
stop the advance of the expedition, they maltreated 



POSTSCRIPT. 315 

the animals, so that in a few days not one remained 
alive. Failing to gain their end in this way, they be- 
gan to tamper with the natives, setting them against 
their commander by false reports of strange practices 
on his part. 

Finding the Sepoys useless as guards and dangerous 
as members of the expedition, Livingston paid them 
their wages, and sent them bacfejo the coast. With 
his diminished company he pushed on through an 
uninhabited wilderness, suffering much from hunger 
and desertion, until he reached a village belonging 
to a Mahiya chief, eight days' march south of the 
Rovuma, and overlooking the watershed of Lake 
Nyassa. Two of the liberated slaves deserted while 
on the road to Mponda's country, near the lake, where 
he arrived early in August. At this point his un- 
grateful 'protege Wakotani demanded his discharge, 
falsely alleging that he had found a sister in Mponda's 
favorite wife, that his " big brother " lived near there, 
and that his family lived across the lake. Though 
convinced that these stories were untrue, Livingston 
released him, and pushed on to the lake, to minister 
to a Babisa chief who required medicine for a skin 
disease. While at the village of this chief a half-caste 
Arab arrived from the western shore of the lake, and 
reported that he had been plundered by a band of 
Mazitus, at a place which Livingston knew to be a 
hundred and fifty miles distant, north-northwest. 
Musa, the chief of the Johanna men, was equally well 
aware of the absence of danger, yet the Arab's story 
afforded a pretext for refusing to proceed, and he 
made the most of it. Livingston endeavored to com- 



316 TRAVELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

promise the matter by promising to go due west be- 
yond the range of the Mazitus, but it was of no use : 
the Johanna men ran away in a body, returned to the 
coast, as already noticed, and deceived the majority 
of Livingston's admirers by their lying story of his 
death. 

Fortunately Livingston was now in a country that 
had never been cursed by slave hunters, and the peo- 
ple were, — as he always found them in such cases, — 
kind and hospitable. For small payments of cloth 
and beads they carried his baggage from village to 
village, and gave him other assistance which made it 
possible for him to proceed with his meagre force. 
But this could not last always. Toward the close of 
1866, the limit of this kindly region was reached, and 
the expedition entered upon a country that had been 
devastated by marauding Mazitus. The land was 
stripped of provisions and cattle, and the inhabitants 
had migrated beyond the reach of their ferocious ene- 
mies. Here the expedition was reduced to great ex- 
tremity, plagued by famine and lessened by desertion. 
Robbed of his personal baggage, which his unfaithful 
servants had made off with, beset by dangers and dis- 
tresses, yet undaunted in spirit, the explorer pushed 
on through the countries of the Babisi, the Bobemba, 
the Barungu, and the Baulungu, into Londa, the 
dominion of prince Cazembe, first made known to 
Europeans by the Portuguese traveller, Dr. Lacerda. 
Here Livingston met with a kind reception, and was 
freely granted permission to pursue his search for 
" great waters." 

The reports of the next two years' exploration are 



POSTSCRIPT. 317 

of the briefest character, though the results of them 
are unsurpassed in the history of African adventure. 

Just before he arrived at Cazembe's, Livingston 
crossed an important stream called the Chambezi. 
All the Portuguese explorers who had preceded him 
had described the river as the Zambezi. Misled by 
the similarity of the name, and trusting too much to 
the Portuguese authorities, Livingston assumed it to 
be the head stream of the river he had already ex- 
plored, and paid no attention to it. This error cost 
him many months of tedious labor and travel. Find- 
ing as he proceeded the books and maps of the Portu- 
guese seriously at variance with his observations, he 
retraced his steps, traversed and retraversed the broad 
region watered by the numerous branches of the 
Chambezi, until he was convinced that it marked a 
new and hitherto unsuspected line of drainage sloping 
northward. 

In the course of his researches he came upon a lake, 
northeast of Cazembe's, called the Liemba, from the 
country bordering it on the east and south. Follow- 
ing this lake northward he found it to be no other 
than Tanganyika, whose southern extremity reaches 
to a latitude about 9° south. This great lake extends 
north and south, a distance of three hundred and sixty 
geographical miles, and has an outline very much like 
that of Italy. 

Livingston next pushed his explorations westward, 
crossing the Marungu country with great difficulty, 
and almost at the cost of his life, until he came to a 
large lake, Moero by name, shut in by lofty moun- 
tains. Its surplus waters he found to escape toward 



318 TRAVELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

the north through a deep rent in the mountains, pour- 
ing an impetuous torrent through the chasm with the 
roar of a cataract. From the south it receives the 
waters of a broad river, the Luapula, which Living- 
ston ascended along a tortuous course until he found 
it to be the outlet of a still larger lake which the na- 
tives called Bangwelo. The largest of the many 
feeders to this lake proved to be the Chambezi, which 
Livingston ascended to the country of King Cazembe. 
Evidently this grand river, whose northward course 
Livingston had traced under changing appellations 
through three degrees of latitude, could have no con- 
nection with the Zambezi. Where did it flow ? 

The most intelligent natives and traders in the 
upper part of the Chambezi valley thought that the 
rivers of that region ran into Tanganyika. But to do 
that they must run up hill, as the deep trough of the 
valley into which the waters of all the great rivers 
and lakes converged, lay a full thousand feet lower 
than the Upper Tanganyika. Was the Chambezi the 
head stream of the Nile ? So Livingston strongly 
suspected, but he could not be certain until he had 
followed its waters through the unknown region north 
of the great lakes he had discovered. That Was the 
next task he set himself to do. 

Instead of retracing his course down the river, Liv- 
ingston, for reasons which he has not explained, struck 
across the country northward to Ujiji, harassed al- 
most to death by his miserable attendants, who, under 
the corrupting influence of an ungrateful Arab, made 
the long and painful journey a period of peculiar and 
exasperating misery. While at Ujiji, in the summer 



POSTSCRIPT, 319 

of 1869, he wrote the letters mentioned on page 810, 
and others which the Arab traders treacherously de- 
stroyed, lest they should expose their iniquitous pro- 
ceedings in connection with the slave trade. 

As soon as he was strong enough to travel, Living- 
ston descended the Tanganyika about sixty miles, 
crossed over to Uguhha, on the western shore, and set 
off northwestward through theoManyema country, 
intending to strike the river flowing out of Lake Mo- 
ero, and then follow down the central line of drainage 
he had discovered. At first he was able to travel but 
two hours a day ; but by persevering he gained 
strength, and in July he came up with the trading 
party of Muhamad Bogharib, who by native medi- 
cines and carriage had saved his life when prostrated 
by a severe attack of pneumonia in the Marungu 
country. With this company he journeyed into the 
interior, descending the Luamo, a river from one to 
two hundred yards wide, rising in the mountains op- 
posite Ujiji, and flowing westward. Approaching its 
confluence with the Lualaba — the outlet of Lake 
Moero — he found himself among a people who had 
lately been maltreated by a company of ivory hunters. 
The feeling against all strangers was very strong, es- 
pecially among the women. The worst the men did 
was to turn out in force, fully armed, and escort the 
party out of their district. Glad that no collision had 
taken place, Livingston returned to a place called 
Bambarre, about 150 miles west of Ujiji, and, in com- 
pany with his friend Muhamad, struck away due 
north, Muhamad to buy ivory, Livingston to reach 
another part of the Lualaba and buy a canoe. The 



320 TRAVELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

country was extremely beautiful but difficult to pene- 
trate. Mountains of light gray granite stood like 
islands in new red sandstone, both mountains and val- 
leys clad in a mantle of varied green. Vegetation 
was indescribably rank. The dense spiry grass, with 
stalks half an inch in diameter and twelve feet high, 
was impassible to everything except elephants; and 
while the party wormed their way along the elephant 
walks, the rough edges of the grass tore their faces 
and rasped the skin from their hands. In November 
heavy rains set in, making the difficult travelling all 
the harder by deepening the mud. In many cases 
the heavy weight of the elephants had broken through 
the subsoil, making deep mud holes into which the 
travellers Avould slump up to their waists, or bury 
themselves, ivory and all. The valleys were deeply 
undulating, and in the bottoms of each innumerable 
small streams had to be crossed, and though there 
might be only a thread of water, the mire was " griev- 
ous." 

" Some of the numerous rivers which in this region 
flow into Lualaba are covered with living vegetable 
bridges — a species of dark, glossy-leaved grass, which 
with its roots and leaves, felts itself into a mat that 
covers the whole stream. When stepped upon it yields 
twelve or fifteen inches, and that amount of water 
rises up on the leg. At every step the foot has to be 
raised high enough to place it on the unbent mass in 
front. This high stepping fatigues like walking on 
deep snow. Here and there holes appear which we 
could not sound with a stick six feet long ; they gave 
the impression that anywhere one might plump 



POSTSCRIPT. 321 

through and finish the chapter. Where the water is 
shallow, the lotus, or sacred lily, sends its roots to the 
bottom, and spreads its broad leaves oyer the floating 
bridge so as to make believe that them at is its own ; 
but the grass referred to is the real felting and sup- 
porting agent, for it often performs duty as bridge 
where no lilies grow. The bridge is called by Many- 
ema " kintefwetef we," as if hei^vho first coined it 
was gasping for breath after plunging over a mile of 
it." 

Everywhere in this primeval wilderness the accu- 
mulated ivory of ages lay rotting on the ground, and 
the unsophisticated natives were willing to collect it 
for nominal payments of beads and copper bracelets. 
News of such abundance of cheap ivory no sooner 
reached Ujiji than a " rush " set in for the Manyema 
country, and Livingston was soon overtaken by a 
horde numbering six hundred muskets, every man 
eager for the precious tusks. Unwilling to bear the 
new-comers' company, and suffering from the effects 
of bad water and frequent wetting, the explorer re- 
turned seven days' journey southwest to a camp 
formed by the head men of the ivory traders, and on 
the 7th of February went into winter quarters. He 
had no medicine, but rest, shelter, boiling all the 
water he used, and a new potato found among the 
natives, served as restoratives, and he soon regained 
his health. The rains continued into July ; fifty- two 
inches fell, and the mud from the clayey soil was 
awful, exhausting the strongest men notwithstanding 
their intense eagerness for ivory. 

As soon as it was possible to travel, Livingston lost 
21 



322 TRAVELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

no time in preparing to follow the river ; but his at- 
tendants preferred the easy life of the camp, where 
they were fed and lodged by the slave women whose 
husbands were away in search of ivory. At first they 
pretended to fear going into a canoe. Livingston con- 
sented to go without one. Then they pretended to 
fear the people, though the inhabitants along the Lua- 
laba were reported by the slaves to be remarkably 
friendly. Elsewhere he could employ the country 
people as carriers, and was comparatively independent 
though deserted by his attendants. But in Manyema 
no one could be induced to go into the next district 
for fear of being killed and eaten. He was at the 
mercy of those who had been Moslem slaves, and who 
knew that in thwarting him they had the sympathy 
of all the Moslems in the country, and they took ad- 
vantage of the situation. With only three attendants 
he went on towards the northwest in ignorance that 
the great river flowed west by south ; and there was 
no one who could correct his mistake. 

Muhamad's people went further on in the forest 
than he could, and came to the mountainous country 
of the Balegga, who collected in large numbers, and 
demanded of the strangers why they came. " We 
came to buy ivory," was the reply, " and if you have 
none no harm is done ; we shall return." " Nay," 
they shouted, " you came to die, and this day is your 
last; you came to die — you came to die." When 
forced to fire on the Balegga their terror was like 
their insolence — extreme ; and next day, when sent 
for to take away the women and children who w^ere 
captured, no one appeared. 



POSTSCRIPT. 323 

In their journeying Muhamad's party crossed many 
large rivers. One was so tortuous that they were five 
hours in water, waist, and sometimes neck deep, with 
a man in a small canoe sounding for places which they 
could pass. In another case they were two hours in 
the water, and they could see nothing in the forest, 
and nothing in the Balegga country but one u moun- 
tain packed closely to the back^f another, without 
end, and a very hot fountain in one of the valleys." 

Livingston suffered grievously from continual wad- 
ing in the mud, and for the first time in his life his 
feet failed him. When torn by travel, instead of 
healing kindly as heretofore, they were afflicted with 
irritable eating ulcers. The people, however, were 
civil and kind, his reputation for goodness having pre- 
ceded him everywhere. On one occasion he had a 
striking proof of their confidence in him. While he 
was sleeping with his three attendants in a village, a 
member of a trading party, in camp close by, was 
pinned to the ground by a spear. Nine villages had 
been burned and at least forty men killed, because a 
Manyema man had tried to steal a string of beads ; 
and the midnight assassination was in revenge for the 
loss of friends there. It was evident that a reaction 
against the bloody slaving had set in ; and convinced 
by the accounts given by Muhamad's people that 
nothing would be gained by going further in that di- 
rection, Livingston, now very lame, limped back to 
Bambarre, where he was laid up many months with 
ulcers on his feet. These distressing ulcers are com- 
mon in the Manyema country, and kill many slaves. 
If the foot is placed on the ground blood flows, and 



324 TRAVELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

every night a discharge of bloody ichor takes place, 
with pain that prevents sleep. The wailing of the 
poor slaves with ulcers that eat through everything, 
even bone, is one of the night sounds of a slave camp. 

In this horrid place Livingston remained from Au- 
gust, 1870, until the close of the year, prevented by 
the ulcers from setting a foot on the ground. 

" I lived," he writes (1870), " in what may be called 
the Tipperary of Manyema, and they are certainly a 
bloody people among themselves. But they are very 
far from being in appearance like the ugly negroes on 
the west coast. Finely formed heads are common, 
and generally the men and women are vastly superior 
to the slaves of Zanzibar and elsewhere. We must go 
deeper than phrenology to account for their low moral 
tone. If they are cannibals they are not ostenta- 
tiously so. The neighboring tribes all assert that they 
are men-eaters, and they themselves laughingly admit 
the charge. But they like to impose on the credulous, 
and they showed the skull of a recent victim to hor- 
rify one of my people. I found it to be the skull of 
a gorilla, or soko — the first I knew of its existence 
here — and this they do eat." 

Satisfactory progress in the exploration of the river 
could be made only in canoes with men accustomed to 
work. Livingston tried hard to get such men from 
Ujiji ; but all the traders were eager to secure the 
carriers for themselves, and circulated the report that 
he would go from Manyema to his own country and 
leave the men to shift for themselves. He offered a 
thousand dollars to some traders for the loan of ten 
of their people, — more than that number of men ever 



POSTSCRIPT. 325 

obtained, — but the ivory fever was so high that none 
would consent to his proposition, so long as the hope 
of getting ivory remained. 

At last, in February, 1871, seven Banian slaves that 
had been dispatched in 1869, with goods for his re- 
lief, arrived in Bambarre with so much of the supplies 
as had not been plundered on tha ^ay from the coast : 
" a few coarse beads, evidently exchanged for my 
beautiful and dear beads," Livingston writes with 
justifiable bitterness, " a little calico, and in great 
mercy, some of my coffee and sugar." His tent, which 
they had used all the way, was so rotten and full of 
holes that he could not use it. " They had been six- 
teen months on the way from Zanzibar instead of 
three, and now, like their head men, refused to go 
any further. They swore so positively that the Con- 
sul had told them to force me back, and on no account 
to go forward, that I actually looked again at their 
engagement, to be sure my eyes had not deceived me. 
Fear alone made them consent to go ; but had I not 
been aided by Muhamad Bogharib, they would have 
gained their point by sheer brazen-faced falsehood." 

How the unfortunate explorer was baffled and wor- 
ried, and finally defeated by these wretched slaves, 
who had been sent him contrary to his express orders 
to send none but free men, we have not space to re- 
count : they were one of the bitterest misfortunes that 
he has had to contend against. His medicines had 
been unaccountably detained by the Governor of Uny- 
anyembe since 1868, though he had twice sent for 
them with calico to prepay the carriers. He suc- 
ceeded, however, in curing the ulcers on his feet with 



326 TRAVELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

a piece of malachite, rubbed down with water on a 
stone, and as soon as he could travel he set off in a 
northerly direction in search of the Lualaba. After 
several days' journey he found the river, and by ex- 
ceeding pertinacity he contrived to follow its erratic 
course, until it entered a lake called Kamolondo, in 
about 6 deg. 80 min. south. Then he retraced the 
river southward to where he had seen it issue from 
Lake Moero. Descending the Lualaba again — a 
broad and curiously tortuous stream — he returned to 
Lake Kamolondo, explored it, and then pushed his 
investigations down the stream, -which issues from it. 
He found it to bear the same name below as above 
the lake, and to distinguish the upper portion he 
called it Webb's Lualaba, in honor of one of his oldest 
and most consistent friends. Away to southwest of 
Kamolondo is another large lake which discharges its 
waters into the Lualaba, through a large river called 
the Loeki, or Lomami. To this lake, which is known 
as Chebungo by the natives, Livingston gave the 
name of Lincoln, in honor of our martyred President. 
A large river called the Lufira, flows into the Lualaba, 
a little north of Lake Kamolondo ; and many other 
important streams help to swell its waters, as it sweeps 
through many and crooked windings northward to 
another great lake, which Livingston was unable to 
reach. His Banian slaves refused to go on, fearing 
they said to enter a country where there were no 
Moslems. He waited three months for the arrival of 
a friend named Dugumbe, who was on the way from 
Ujiji with a caravan of two hundred guns and nine 
under-traders with their people. As soon as he came, 



POSTSCRIPT. 327 

Livingston endeavored to hire ten men and a canoe, 
that he might finish his geographical work without 
the Banians. His proposition was agreed to, but Du- 
gumbe required a few days to consult his associates. 
Two days after, June 13th, a massacre was perpe- 
trated, which filled Livingston with such intolerable 
loathing that he resolved to yield to /the Banian slaves, 
return to Ujiji, get men from tte coast, and try to 
finish his work by going outside the area of Ujijian 
bloodshed, instead of vainly trying from its interior 
outwards. We quote at length his description of that 
dreadful affair, for the double view it gives of native 
life, and the horrors of slave hunting : — 

" Dugumbe's people built their huts on the right bank of the 
Lualaba, at a market place called Nyanwe. On hearing that 
the head slave of a trader at Ujiji had, in order to get canoes 
cheap, mixed blood with the head men of the Bagenya on the 
left bank, they were disgusted with his assurance, and resolved 
to punish him and make an impression in the country in favor 
of their own greatness by an assault on the market people, and 
on all the Bagenya who had dared to make friendship with any 
but themselves. Tagamoio, the principal under-trader of Du- 
gumbe's party, was the perpetrator. The market was attended 
every fourth day by between two thousand and three thousand 
people. It was held on a long slope of land which, down at the 
river, ended in a creek capable of containing between fifty and 
sixty large canoes. The majority of the market people were 
women, many of them very pretty. The people west of the river 
brought fish, salt, pepper, oil, grass-cloth, iron, fowls, goats, sheep, 
pigs, in great numbers, to exchange with those east of the river 
for cassava grain, potatoes, and other farinaceous products. They 
have a strong sense of natural justice, and all unite in forcing 
each other to fair dealing. At first my presence made them all 
afraid, but wishing to gain their confidence, which mv enemies 
tried to undermine or prevent, I went among them frequently, 



328 TRAVELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

and when they saw no harm in me became very gracious ; the 
bargaining was the finest acting I ever saw. I understood but 
few of the words that flew off the srlib tongues of the women, but 
their gestures spoke plainly. I took sketches of the fifteen va- 
rieties of fish brought in, to compare them with those of the Nile 
farther down, and all were eager to tell their names. But on the 
date referred to I had left the market only a minute or two when 
three men whom I had seen with guns, and felt inclined to re- 
prove them for bringing them into the market place, but had 
refrained by attributing it to ignorance in new-comers, began to 
fire into the dense crowd around them. Another party, down at 
the canoes, rained their balls on the panic-struck multitude that 
rushed into these vessels. All threw away their goods, the men 
forgot their paddles, the canoes were jammed in the creek and 
could not be got out quick enough, so many men and women 
sprung into the water. The women of the left bank are expert 
divers for oysters, and a long line of heads showed a crowd strik- 
ing out for an island a mile off ; to gain it they had to turn the 
left shoulder against a current of between a mile and a half to 
two miles an hour. Had they gone diagonally with the current, 
though that would have been three miles, many would have 
gained the shore. It was horrible to see one head after another 
disappear, some calmly, others throwing their arms high up to- 
wards the Great Father of all, and going down. Some of the 
men who got canoes out of the crowd paddled quick, with hands 
and arms, to help their friends ; three took people in till they 
all sank together. One man had clearly lost his head, for he 
paddled a canoe, which would have held fifty people, straight up 
stream nowhere. The Arabs estimated the loss at between four 
and five hundred souls. Dugumbe sent out some of his men in 
one of thirty canoes, which the owners in their fright could not 
extricate, to save the sinking. One lady refused to be taken on 
board because she thought that she was to be made a slave ; but 
he rescued twenty-one, and of his own accord sent them next 
day home. Many escaped and came to me, and were restored 
to their friends. When the firing; began on the terror-stricken 
crowd at the canoes, Tagamoio's band began their assault on the 
people on the west of the river, and continued the fire all day. 



POSTSCRIPT. 329 

I counted seventeen villages in flames, and next day six. Du- 
gumbe's power over the underlings is limited, but lie ordered 
them to cease shooting. Those in the market were so reckless 
they shot two of their own number. Tagamoio's crew came back 
next day, in canoes, shouting and firing off their guns as if be- 
lieving that they were worthy of renown. 

" Next day about twenty head men fled from the west bank 
and came to my house. There was no occasion now to tell them 
that the English had no desire for human/blood. They begged 
hard that I should go over with them and settle with them, and 
arrange where the new dwellings of each should be. I was so 
ashamed of the bloody Moslem company in which I found myself 
that I was unable to look at the Manyema. I confessed my grief 
and shame, and was entreated, if I must go, not to leave them 
now. Dugumbe spoke kindly to them, and would protect them 
as well as he could against his own people ; but when I went to 
Tagamoio to ask back the wives and daughters of some of the 
head men, he always ran off and hid himself. 

" This massacre was the most terrible scene I ever saw. I can- 
not describe my feelings, and am thankful that I did not give 
way to them, but by Dugumbe's advice, avoided a bloody feud 
with men who, for the time, seemed turned into demons. The 
whole transaction was the more deplorable, inasmuch as we have 
always heard from the Manyema that though the men of the dis- 
tricts may be engaged in actual hostilities, the women pass from 
one market place to another with their wares, and were never 
known to be molested. The change has come only with these 
alien bloodhounds, and all the bloodshed has taken place in 
order that captives might be seized where it could be done with- 
out danger, and in order that the slaving privileges of a petty 
sultan should produce abundant fruit." 

Heartsore and depressed in spirit by these terrible 
instances of "man's inhumanity to man," Livingston 
turned his back on the object of his hopes, and started 
on a long and weary tramp to Ujiji, under a blazing 
tropical sun. Almost every step of those wretched 
five hundred miles was in pain. "I felt as if dying 



330 TRAVELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

on my feet," he writes ; and he came very near death 
in a more summary way. 

Outrage after outrage was heaped on the poor 
Manyema people by the trading companies until they 
could endure it no longer. As soon as trouble began 
the scattered camps of ivory seekers begged to be 
taken into Livingston's company, and he could not 
refuse them. No more could he restrain their ex- 
cesses, or escape sharing the blame of them. On one 
occasion the party had to pass through five hours of 
forest thronged with exasperated natives, bent on re- 
venging the enslavement and death of their relatives. 
The vegetation was so dense that they could not see 
their foes. 

" Our people in front peered into every little opening in the 
dense thicket before they would venture past it ; this detained 
the rear, and two persons near to me were slain. A large spear 
lunged past close behind ; another missed me by about a foot in 
front. Coining to a part of the forest of about a hundred yards 
cleared for cultivation, I observed that fire had been applied to 
one of the gigantic trees, made still higher by growing on an 
ant-hill twenty or more feet high. Hearing the crack that told 
the fire had eaten through, I felt that there was no danger, it 
looked so far away, till it appeared coming right down toward 
me. I ran a few paces back, and it came to the ground only one 
yard off, broke in several lengths, and covered me with a cloud 
of dust. My attendants ran back, exclaiming, ' Peace, peace ! 
you will finish your work in spite of all these people, and in 
spite of everything.' I, too, took it as an omen of good that I 
had three narrow escapes from death in one day. 

" The Manyema are expert at throwing the spear, and as I 
had a glance of him whose spear missed by less than an inch 
behind, and he was not ten yards off, I was saved clearly by the 
good hand of the Almighty Preserver of men. I can say this 
devoutly now, but in running the terrible gauntlet for five weary 



POSTSCRIPT. 331 

hours among furies all eager to signalize themselves by slaying 
one they sincerely believed to have been guilty of a horrid out- 
rage, no elevated sentiments entered the mind. The excitement 
gave way to overpowering weariness, and I felt as I suppose sol- 
diers do on the field of battle — not courageous, but perfectly 
indifferent whether I were killed or not." 

The abject condition of the illustrious explorer on 
his return to Ujiji has already l^e^h described. The 
results of the years of unparalleled labor and suffering 
which he has undergone since he disappeared from the 
ken of civilization, he sums up briefly as follows : — 

" I have ascertained that the water-shed of the Mle is a broad 
upland between ten degrees and twelve degrees south latitude, 
and from 4,000 to 5,000 feet above the level of the sea. Moun- 
tains stand on it at various points, which, though not apparently 
very high, are between 6,000 and 7,000 feet of actual altitude. 
The water-shed is over 700 miles in length, from west to east. 
The springs that rise on it are almost innumerable — that is, it 
would take a large part of a man's life to count them. A bird's- 
eye view of some parts of the water-shed would resemble the frost 
vegetation on window panes. They all begin in an ooze at the 
head of a slightly depressed valley. A few hundred yards down, 
the quantity of water from oozing earthen sponge forms a brisk 
perennial burn or brook a few feet broad, and deep enough to re- 
quire a bridge. These are the ultimate or primary sources of the 
great rivers that flow to the north in the great Nile valley. The 
primaries unite and form streams in general larger than the Isis 
at Oxford, or Avon at Hamilton, and may be called secondary 
sources. They never dry, but unite again into four large lines of 
drainage, the head waters or mains of the river of Egypt. These 
four are each called by the natives Lualaba, which, if not too pe- 
dantic, may be spoken of as lacustrine rivers, extant specimens of 
those which, in prehistoric times, abounded in Africa, and which 
in the south are still called by Bechuanas ' Melapo,' in the north, 
by Arabs, ' Wadvs,' both words meaning the same thing — river 
bed in which no water ever now flows. Two of the four great 



332 TRA VELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

rivers mentioned fall into the central Lualaba, or Webb's Lake 
River, and then we have but two main lines of drainage as de- 
picted nearly by Ptolemy. 

" The prevailing winds on the water-shed are from the southeast. 
This is easily observed by the direction of the branches, and the 
humidity of the climate is apparent in the numbers of lichens 
which make the upland forest look like the mangrove swamps on 
the coast. 

" In passing over sixty miles of latitude, I waded thirty-two pri- 
mary sources from calf to waist deep, and requiring from twenty 
minutes to an hour and a quarter to cross stream and sponge. 
This would give about one source to every two miles. 

" A Suaheli friend, in passing along part of the Lake Bangweolo. 
during six days counted twenty-two from thigh to waist deep. 
This lake is on the water-shed, for the village at which I observed 
on its northwest shore was a few seconds into eleven degrees 
south, and its southern shores, and springs, and rivulets, are cer- 
tainly in twelve degrees south. I tried to cross it in order to 
measure the breadth accurately. The first stage to an inhabited 
island was about twenty-four miles. From the highest point 
here the tops of the trees, evidently lifted by the mirage, could 
be seen on the second stage and the third stage : the mainland 
was said to be as far as this beyond it. But my canoe men had 
stolen the canoe and got a hint that the real owners were in pur- 
suit, and got into a flurry to return home. ' They would come 
back for me in a few days, truly/ but I had only my coverlet 
left to hire another craft if they should leave me in this wide ex- 
panse of water, and being 4,000 feet above the sea it was very 
cold ; so I returned. 

" The length of this lake is, at a very moderate estimate, 150 
miles. It gives forth a large body of water in the Luapula ; yet 
lakes are in no sense sources, for no large river begins in a lake ; 
but this and others serve an important purpose in the phenomena 
of the Nile. It is one large lake, and (unlike the Okara, which, 
according to Suaheli, who travelled long in our company, is three 
or four lakes run into one huge Victoria Nyanza) gives out a 
large river, which, on departing out of Moero, is still larger. 
These men had spent many years east of Okara, and could 






POSTSCRIPT. 333 

scarcely be mistaken in saying that of the three or four lakes 
there, only one (the Okara) gives off its waters to the north. . . . 

" The great river, Webb's Lualaba, in the centre of the Nile 
valley, makes a great bend to the west, soon after leaving Lake 
Moero, of at least one hundred and eighty miles ; then, turning 
to the north for some distance, it makes another large sweep 
west of about one hundred and twenty miles, in the course of 
which about thirty miles of southing are made ; it then draws 
around to northeast, receives the Lomani, or Loeki, a large river 
which flows through Lake Lincoln. Alter the union a large lake 
is formed, with many inhabited islands in it ; but this has still 
to be explored. It is the fourth large lake in the central line 
of drainage, and cannot be Lake Albert ; for, assuming Speke's 
longitude of Ujiji to be pretty correct, and my reckoning not 
enormously wrong, the great central lacustrine river is about five 
degrees west of Upper and Lower Tanganyika. . . . 

" Beyond the fourth lake the water passes, it is said, into large 
reedy lakes, and is in all probability Petherick's branch — the 
main stream of the Nile — in distinction from the smaller eastern 
arm which Speke, Grant, and Baker took to be the river of 
Egypt. 1 

" The Manyema could give no information about their country 
because they never travel. Blood feuds often prevent them from 

1 Dr. Charles Beke and others, widely known in connection with Afri- 
can geography, dispute the possibility of any connection between the Lua- 
laba and the Nile, certainly through Petherick's branch. It is, they say, 
a question of fact, not of theory. Since Livingston left England a German 
botanist, Dr. G. Schweinfurth, has explored the basin of the western arm 
of the Nile, proving it to be not the "main branch," as Livingston sup- 
poses. Dr. Schweinfurth claims not only to have visited " Petherick's 
Nile " — the river Djur — but to have passed beyond it, finding in latitude 
3 35 / north, and longitude 28° east, a large river, the Uelle, running di- 
rectly across the course which Livingston supposes the Lualaba to take. 
Having its course on the western side of the Blue Mountains, flanking the 
Albert Nyanza on the northwest, somewhere about latitude 2' north, and 
longitude 30° east, the Uelle runs from east to west, and is supposed to be 
the upper course of the Shary, running into Lake Chad. Such a river, in 
such a position and with such a course, it is said, must shut up the basin of 
the Nile in that direction, and preclude the passage into it of any waters 
from the south. 



334 TRAVELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

visiting villages three or four miles off, and many at a distance of 
about thirty miles did not know the great river, though named 
to them. No traders had gone so far as I had, and their people 
cared only for ivory. 

" In my attempts to penetrate further and further, I had but lit- 
tle hope of ultimate success, for the great amount of westing led to 
a continued effort to suspend the judgment, lest, after all, I might 
be exploring the Congo instead of the Nile, and it was only after 
the two great western drains fell into the central main, and left 
but the two great lacustrine rivers of Ptolemy, that I felt pretty 
sure of being on the right track." 

Soon after Mr. Stanley's arrival at Ujiji, he pro- 
posed an expedition to the northern end of Tangany- 
ika, to settle the disputed question of its relation to 
the Albert Nyanza. Though sorely weakened by 
disease, and much cast down by the disappointments 
of his last journey and the outrageous robbery of his 
supplies, Livingston heartily seconded the proposition, 
and instantly set about making ready for the start. 
A canoe was procured, and by means of the supplies 
which Mr. Stanley had brought, a company was soon 
organized and equipped for what proved to be a rare 
pleasure excursion to the travel worn explorer. Dis- 
covering that the Rusizi, the river at the end of the 
lake, flowed into instead of out of Tanganyika, and 
finding no outlet in that direction, the party returned 
from their month's cruise satisfied that Tanganyika 
was of no interest, except in a very remote degree, in 
connection with the sources of the Nile. 

On Mr. Stanley's return to the coast, Dr. Living- 
ston accompanied him as far as Unyanyembe, where 
he remained until Mr. Stanley should be able to send 
him men and supplies from the coast. On the receipt 






POSTSCRIPT. 335 

of these his purpose was to set off immediately for the 
prosecution of his great work. 

" It is only a sense of duty, which I trust your lordship will ap- 
prove," he writes to Earl Granville, " that makes me remain, and 
if possible finish the geographical question of my mission. After 
being thwarted, baffled, robbed, worried almost to death in fol- 
io Aving the central line of drainage down, I. have a sore longing 
for home ; have had a perfect surfeit of Seeing strange, new lands 
and people, grand mountains, lovely valleys, the glorious vegeta- 
tion of primeval forests, wild beasts, and an endless succession of 
beautiful man ; besides great rivers and vast lakes — the last 
most interesting from their huge outflowings, which explain some 
of the phenomena of the grand old Mle." 

His plan of operation for the coming years he 
sketches as follows : — 

"I shall at present avoid Ujiji, and go about southwest from 
this to Fipa, which is east of and near the south end of Tanga- 
nyika ; then round the same south end, only touching it again at 
Pambette; thence resuming the southwest course to cross the 
Chambeze, and proceed alone to the southern shores of Lake 
Bangweolo, which being in latitude twelve degrees south, the 
course will be due west to the ancient fountains of Herodotus. 
From them it is about ten days north to Katanga, the copper 
mines of which have been worked for ages. The malachite ore 
is described as so abundant it can only be mentioned by the coal- 
heavers' phrase ' practically inexhaustible.' 

" About ten days northeast of Katanga very extensive under- 
ground rock excavations deserve attention as very ancient, the 
natives ascribing their formation to the Deity alone. They are 
remarkable for all having water laid on in running streams, and 
the inhabitants of large districts can all take refuge in them in 
«ase of invasion. Returning from them to Katanga, twelve days 
north-northwest, take to the southern end of Lake Lincoln. I 
wish to go down through it to the Lomani, and into Webb's Lu- 
daba, and home." 

Nothing remains but to speak of the English Search 



336 TRAVELS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

and Relief Expedition. Its work was forestalled. Be- 
fore it was ready to leave the coast, Mr. Stanley arrived 
with the unexpected intelligence that Livingston had 
been found and relieved, and bearing a letter from 
Livingston directing the return of any company that 
might be on the way with men or supplies for him. 
With no one to search for and no one to relieve, the 
members of the English Expedition did the only thing 
left for them to do — they disbanded and returned. 



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